PMFME: Get Rs 10 Lakh to Start Business in Agriculture Sector; Details Inside

To double the income of farmers by the year 2022, the Central & state governments are coming up with lots of schemes and initiatives including the “One District One Product” program. Under this program, many different schemes are being implemented that includes PM Formlisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME). 

Read on to know more about the scheme;

What is One District One Product

The scheme will adopt the One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefit in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services & marketing of products. ODOP for the scheme will provide the agenda for value chain development & alignment of support infrastructure. There can be more than one cluster of ODOP products in one district. There might be a cluster of ODOP products consisting of more than one adjacent district in a State.

The States will identify the food product for a district, keeping in perspective the focus of the scheme on perishables. For this a baseline study would be conducted by the State Government. The ODOP product can be a perishable Agri produce, cereal-based product, or a food product that is widely produced in a district. Here is a list of such products - mango, tomato, tapioca, potato, litchi, kinnu, bhujia, papad, pickle, petha, millet-based products, poultry, fisheries, meat etc. In addition certain other traditional and innovative products including waste to wealth products can be supported under the Scheme. For instance, honey, minor forest products in tribal areas, herbal edible items such as turmeric, amla, haldi, etc.

Support for agricultural products would be for their processing along with efforts to reduce wastage, proper assaying, and storage and marketing.

Upgradation Of Individual Micro Food Processing Units

Credit Linked Subsidy

Individual micro food processing units who wish for upgradation of their unit can avail credit-linked capital subsidy @35% of the eligible project cost with a max ceiling of Rs.10 lakh / unit. The beneficiary contribution must be a minimum of 10 percent and the balance has to be a loan from a bank.

Capacity Building or Training support for micro enterprise

Training support would be given to individual units that are being provided support for capital investment. The training support will also be given to other existing units in the districts that are processing ODOP products. The focus areas for capacity building under the Scheme are;

• Entrepreneurship development, marketing, bookkeeping, registration, FSSAI standards, Udyog Aadhar, GST Registration, general hygiene, essential functions of enterprise operations etc.;

• Specific training designed for ODOP product or any product produced by the unit including operations of necessary machines, hygiene issues, procurement, packaging, storage,  new product development etc.

Duration of PMFME Scheme

The PMFME scheme will be operational from 2020-2021 to 2024-2025. Which means, the farmers will get its benefit for 5 years. During this period, 2 lakh micro processing units will be set up, for which a grant of Rupees ten thousand crore will be given.

Eligibility for PMFME Scheme

• Individual Enterpreneur

• Self Help Group

• Co-operative Societies

• FPO

According to information, 23 products have been selected for 38 districts of Bihar. Similarly, 16 products were selected for 24 districts of Jharkhand.

Application Procedure for PMFME Scheme

The interested & eligible farmers can register by visiting the official website of the Ministry of Food processing Enterpreneurs, Government of India via: https://pmfme.mofpi.gov.in/pmfme/#/Home-Page