A strong and dynamic food processing sector plays a vital role in reduction in the wastage of perishable agricultural produce, enhancing shelf life of food products, ensuring value addition to agricultural produce, diversification &commercialization of agriculture, generation of employment, enhancing income of farmers and creating surplus for the export of agro & processed foods. In the era of economic liberalization, all segments including; private, public and co-operative sectors have defined roles to play and the Ministry promotes their active participation.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has a clear goal of attaining these objectives by facilitating and acting as a catalyst to attract quality investments from within India and abroad into this sector with the aim of making food processing a national initiative.With this overall objective, the Ministry aims to:
Government of India had approved the umbrella Central sector scheme, SAMPADA- Scheme for Agro-marine processing and Development of Agro-processing Clusters with a total allocation of Rs.6000 crore on 03.05.2017 for implementation period 2016-2020 coterminous with the 14th Finance Commission cycle. The scheme has been subsequently renamed as ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY)’. PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana was envisaged as a comprehensive package which will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. It will not only provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country but also help in providing better returns to farmers and is a big step towards doubling of farmers income, creating huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas, reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level and enhancing the export of the processed foods.
The PMKSY had seven component schemes viz; (i) Mega Food Parks, (ii) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, (iii) Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters, (iv) Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages, (v) Creation/Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities, (vi) Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure and (vii) Human Resources and Institutions.
The objective of the scheme is to support the creation of global food manufacturing champions; promote Indian brands of food products; increase employment opportunities for off-farm jobs, ensure remunerative prices of farm produce and higher income to farmers.
The scheme covers four food product segments viz. Ready to Cook/ Ready to Eat (RTC/ RTE) foods including Millet products, Processed Fruits & Vegetables, Marine Products and Mozzarella Cheese. Innovative/ Organic products of SMEs in these segments, including Free Range - Eggs, Poultry Meat, Egg Products, are also covered.
Applicants shall be (i) Proprietary Firm or Partnership Firm or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) or a Company registered in India (ii) Co-operatives; and (iii) Small & Medium enterprises.
The tenure of the Scheme is six years from Financial Year 2021-22 to Financial Year 2026-27.
