NEW DELHI, Dec 14: In a written reply to Shillong MP Vincent H Pala in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, said that the Centre is coming up with various schemes to enhance the cold storage facilities in Meghalaya and other states in the country.
These states are going to be benefitted from an array of schemes that will bring about a fresh vigour in agricultural practices, and establishing cold storage units is one of the main tasks taken under these schemes, Tomar assured the MP.
He further informed that with the chief objective to reduce agricultural and horticultural waste by enhancing country’s storage facilities, the department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare is implementing the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) under which financial assistance will be provided for various activities including setting up of cold storages through state governments, the Union minister informed.
Sharing further on the Centre’s agriculture-centric projects, Tomar said that assistance at the rate of 35% of admissible project cost in general areas, and 50% in hilly and scheduled areas will be made available by the government as credit linked back ended subsidy. However, ample demand and initiatives for commercialised ventures must first of all come from the entrepreneurs, private companies, cooperatives and farmers groups. Moreover, the National Horticulture Board (NHB) is implementing a scheme namely ‘Capital Investment Subsidy for Construction/Expansion /Modernization of Cold Storages and Storages for Horticulture Products’.
In the Northeastern region, the units with capacity above 1,000 MT are also eligible for assistance. Further, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) is implementing a scheme for Integrated Cold Chain, Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure as one of the components of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana with the objective of reducing post-harvest losses of horticulture and non-horticulture produce and providing remunerative price to farmers for their produce.
It may be mentioned that Meghalaya at present has four cold storage facilities with only 8,200-tonne capacity. However, erratic power supply in the rural areas, high expenses to run these facilities as well as reluctance from the state’s private sector have contributed towards inefficient and under-developed methods of storage.
However, in the light of Tomar’s recent statement, the situation might be expected to improve for the state’s farmers as more efficient technologies and facilities can be augmented through the upcoming schemes.
Keeping in perspective the state’s current infrastructural status and other circumstances, Tomar further suggested the usage of Zero Energy Cool Chambers (ZECC). Cost-effective and decentralized in operation.
