Agri ministry pushes for Rs 5,000-cr scheme for post-harvest logistics

The Union ministry of agriculture has planned to ask for a Rs 5,000-crore budget during the 12th five-year Plan (2012-17) for a scheme to allow private companies to collaborate with farmers to produce, harvest, process, transport and market various agro products.

Officials said the aim was to ensure availability of farm produce across the country at affordable prices. Titled the Public-Private Partnership for Integrated Agricultural Devel-opment, or PPP-IAD, it hopes to create an efficient supply chain for cereals, perishables and other high-value produce. The hope is cover a million farmers during the Plan. Funds are to be leveraged through the flagship Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

An important part of the proposal is the ministry’s proposal that state governments exempt fruits and vegetables from the ambit of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act, to enable farmers to sell anywhere.

A company, it is suggested, could propose a project targeting a minimum of 10,000 farmers, over three to five years, covering all aspects from production to marketing. Average investment per farmer is to be Rs 1 lakh and government assistance will be restricted to half the overall investment in this regard, within a ceiling of Rs 50,000 per farmer. The ministry says it already has 33 project proposals from private companies, sent through the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

A project will involve mobilising farmers into producer groups and registering as a joint stock producer company or a co-operative or self-help group. In the process, these companies could coordinate with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for improved varieties of seeds/seedlings and for sorting credit issues with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. The hope is for infusion of technologies using precision farming techniques, primary processing, sorting, grading , washing, packaging and value addition clusters, development of warehouses, cold chains, etc.

The Small Farmers Agri- Business Consortium will provide professional support services to such producer firms.