Govt approved 32 projects under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)

On February 27, 2020 Government approved a total of 32 projects under ‘unit’ scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) [scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro Processing Clusters] in the meeting of Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) presided over by Union Minister of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) Harsimrat Kaur Badal.The project covers about 17 states, leveraging an investment worth of Rs 406 crores. The projects approved are running across quadrilaterals of the country covering over 100 agro-climatic zones.

Objective: The main objective of the scheme is creation of processing and preservation capacities & modernisation of existing food processing units to increase the level of processing and value addition leading to reduction of wastage.

Key Points:

i.Food processing plays an important role in linking Indian farmers to consumers in the domestic and international markets.

ii.This project promotes the employment opportunities for around 15,000 people in rural areas.

iii.According to CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) the food sector has emerged high-growth of approximately 8% over the last 5 years due to immense potential of value addition within the food processing industry.

iv.The processed food market is expected to grow to $ 543 billion by 2020 from $ 322 billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 14.6%.

About Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana [PMKSY]:

Ministry of Food Processing Industries [MoFPI] is implementing PMKSY and the period of implementation is 2016-20 with a total outlay of Rs 6000 crore.

The scheme not only boosts the growth of the food processing sector in the country but also doubles the farmers income and enhancing the export of the processed foods.

The 7 schemes under the PMKSY are:

• Mega Food Parks.
• Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure.
• Creation/Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities (unit schemes)
• Infrastructure for Agro-processing clusters
• Creation of forward and backward linkages
• Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure
• Human Resources and Institutions

The scheme expected to leverage investment of Rs. 31,400 crore for handling of 334 lakh MT (metric ton) agro product valued at Rs. 1,04,125 crore benefiting 20 lakh farmers and generating 5,30,500 direct & indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20.