Assocham organized two day conferences and exhibitions on Agri Food Value Chain Partnerships – End to End Approach, which was addressed by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh. Promoting Agri Food Value Chain related activities at local, regional, national and also International level was the theme of the programme.
PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana came up for discussion in this event. “It is a comprehensive package which will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. It will also help in substantially reducing the harvest and post-harvest losses occurring at various stages of the agri food value chain”, said the Minister.
Singh also informed that under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region was approved on January 2016 with a total outlay of Rs 400 crore. Besides this, the government has approved a new Central Sector Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) for the period 2016-20 co-terminous with the 14th Finance Commission cycle.
Minister listed several initiatives of the govt on this occasion. “e-NAM was launched by the government to reduce the supply chain by integrating the value chain participants. So far, 585 mandis have already been added to the e-NAM portal and within the next two years, 415 additional mandis will be added. He informed that in order to address the problem of fluctuations in the prices of tomatoes, onions and potatoes (TOP), “Operation Green” was launched with an outlay of Rs 500 crore in this year’s budget.”
Under this scheme, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), agricultural logistics, processing facilities and professional management will be promoted, Minister added. A developed agri food value chain in the country can not only enhance the farm income of farmers but also make available quality food to the consumers, he added.