With an aim to give a strengthen farm-gate infrastructure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced setting up of a Rs 1 lakh crore agriculture infrastructure fund for farm-gate infrastructure.
This fund will be used for setting up cold chains and post-harvest management infrastructure, she said while announcing the third tranche of the COVID-19 relief package.
The minister also announced a fund of Rs 10,000 crore has been set aside for formalisation of micro food enterprises (MFE).
The scheme will be launched to help 2 lakh MFEs by adopting cluster-based approach such as mango in Uttar Pradesh, makhana from Bihar, Kesar in Jammu and Kashmir, mango in Uttar Pradesh, bamboo shoots in North-East, etc.
This fund would help in reaching untapped export markets in view of improved health consciousness.
This latest announcement is part of government’s Rs1.7 lakh crore package that also includes free food grains and cash distributed to the poor section of the society during this lockdown period.
