(MENAFN- KNN India) New Delhi, Apr 24 (KNN) The government is planning to boost investment in post-harvest infrastructure development at farm gates, aimed to help farmers handle their produce better and fetch remunerative prices.
As part of this effort, the current government, if elected for a third term, may launch a separate Rs 750-crore fund called Agri-SURE to support agri start-ups and expedite the implementation of various initiatives such as the agriculture infrastructure fund (AIF) and the integrated scheme for agricultural marketing, reported FE.
According to sources, the Agri-SURE fund aims to assist in scaling up operations of about 85 start-ups in the next five years, with a variable ticket size of up to Rs 25 crore for each start-up.
A separate trust would be established within Nabventures to register the fund with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The Agri-SURE fund will cover start-ups associated with sectors such as agri-tech, food processing, animal husbandry, fisheries, supply chain management, farm mechanisation, and biotechnology.
Additionally, the new government is expected to expedite the implementation of the Rs 1-trillion AIF, which is aimed at creating post-harvest infrastructure at farm gates, aggregation points of primary agricultural cooperative societies, farmer producer organisations, agri-entrepreneurs, and start-ups.
All loans under this financing facility will have an interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum, up to a limit of Rs 2 crore. The subvention will be available for a maximum of seven years.
Under the AIF, officials report that around Rs 35,000 crore has been sanctioned for 48,352 projects so far. Major projects sanctioned include warehouses, primary processing units, custom hiring centres, sorting and grading units, cold store projects, and assaying units.
"We will aim to expedite the fund's implementation so that infrastructure development at the grassroots could be executed to boost farm incomes," an official stated.
The official emphasised that for too long, the focus has been on boosting production, and the government now aims to bring efficiency to the post-harvest value chain through these initiatives, empowering farmers and agri start-ups alike.
(KNN Bureau)
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