PM launches Rs 1 lakh cr Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the financing facility under the Agricuture Infrastructure Fund worth Rs 1 lakh crore.

The agriculture infrastructure fund was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat economic package in May.

It will provide for funding of agriculture infrastructure projects at the farm-gate and aggregation points such as primary agricultural cooperative societies, farmer producer organisations and agriculture entrepreneurs, among others. Infrastructure to be created through the fund would include post-harvest infrastructure and community farming assets such as cold storage, collection centres and processing units.

This will provide an impetus for development of other financially viable post-harvest management infrastructure, as per the government.

It was announced in view of the lack of adequate cold chain and post-harvest management infrastructure in the vicinity of farm-gate that causes gaps in value chains.

The Prime Minister also initiated the transfer of Rs 17,100 crore benefit to bank accounts of 8.55 crore farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme.

During the virtual launch programme, Modi also talked to farmers across states through video conferencing.