Food processing ministry approves Rs. 162 cr. under Operation Greens scheme
The government has approved Rs. 162 crore under Operation Green scheme which has an outlay of Rs 500 crore to stabilize the supply of tomato, onion and potato (TOP) crops and to ensure their availability round the year without price volatility.
The scheme announced in 2018-19 budget aims to enhance value realisation for farmers by targeted interventions to strengthen production clusters and the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) and linking them with the market. Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said five projects have been sanctioned in the country and more were in line for approvals. “The total cost of the projects is Rs. 426 crore and the grant we will give is Rs. 162 crore,” she said.
Badal added that infrastructure projects for the agro commodities will come in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, Banaskantha in Gujarat and two in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. “More than 50,000 farmers will benefit with these upcoming projects and it will create 10,000 jobs. Storage of over 90,000 tonnes and over 3.64 lakh tonne of daily processing capacity will be created,” she said.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) will be the nodal agency to implement price stabilisation measures. The pattern of assistance will comprise grants-in-aid at the rate of 50% of the eligible project cost in all areas, subject to maximum Rs 50 crores per project. The ministry will provide 50% subsidy on transportation of the crops from production to storage and hiring of appropriate storage facilities.
As part of the long term integrated value chain development projects, the government will help in capacity building of FPOs, quality production, post-harvest processing facilities, agri-logistics, development of markets and creation and management of e-platform for demand and supply management of the crops.