Government Setting Up Cold Storages for Holistic Development of Horticulture in India

The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has decided to implement the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture or MIDH for holistic development of Horticulture in India that includes aid for development of Post Harvest Management like setting up of cold storages for farmers.

Under the MIDH, government had allocated Rs. 31.50 crore to northeast state of Nagaland in 2016-17; Rs. 41.50 crore in 2017-18 & Rs. 32.00 crore in 2018-19 for different horticulture activities including construction of cold storages. But, Nagaland has reported that no funds have been used for construction of cold storages during this period.

Hence, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) is implementing the yojana for “Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure” as one of the elements of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana with the purpose of reducing post-harvest losses of horticulture and non-horticulture produce & providing remunerative price to growers for their produce.

The MoFPI, under the scheme has approved 1 cold chain project in Dimapur, Nagaland in 2017-18 with a financial assistance of Rs.8.10 crore that has been completed & is functional. Another cold chain project in Dimapur has been approved in 2018-19 with an assistance of Rs. 9.67 crore that is under implementation. This information was provided by Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare last week.

Source - PIB