Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a £10 billion Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to support community farming assets across the country and said this would enhance India’s ability to compete globally in the agriculture sector. The farm infrastructure will enable farmers to get higher value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at better prices as per market conditions, reduce wastage and increase processing and value addition.
Modi also released £1.7 billion to nearly 85 million farmers under the sixth instalment of the PM-Kisan scheme. The cash benefit was transferred directly into Aadhaar-verified bank accounts with the press of a button. With this transfer, the scheme has so far provided over £9 billion to over 100 million farmers since its launch in February last year.
Speaking through video conference, Modi said the country had huge opportunity to invest in post-harvest management solutions like warehousing, cold chain and food processing and to build a global presence in areas such as organic and fortified foods. He said the scheme would provide a good opportunity for start-ups in agriculture to avail benefits and scale up their operations, thereby creating an ecosystem that would benefit farmers and create new jobs in every corner of the country. The fund, announced as part of the Centre’s economic stimulus package in May, is a medium-long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee.
