Subsidy to be offered for transport and storage of perishable farm produce

COIMBATORE: The department of agricultural marketing and agri business would implement the Centre’s subsidy scheme to transport and store farm produce, officials here said.
Under the Centre’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, ‘Operation Green’ is being implemented till December to reduce post-harvest losses of fruits and to save farmers from the price fall during lockdown, according to a release from the Coimbatore district administration.
Farmers producer organisations, traders, agents, food processing firms and cooperatives can get 50% subsidy for the cost of transporting produce to markets and 50% subsidy for storing produce for three months in state’s godowns and cold storage facilities, the communication said.
Officials of the agri marketing department said the district has been allotted banana, papaya, and tomato under the scheme.
“As there are issues in logistics and marketing during this pandemic time, farmers can benefit from this subsidy scheme,” the official said.
The communication said the subsidy for goods truck transport would be Rs 2.48 per metric tonne per km, and that for air-conditioned trucks it would be Rs 5 per metric tonne per km.
For rail and flight transport of produce, the rates are fixed by the state railways and airways.
The minimum distance eligible for subsidy for farmer producer organistions, firms, co-operative firms, farmers, food processing firms, exporters, and agents is 100km and that for retailers and state co-operatives, it is 250km.
Storage subsidy would be given for a maximum of three months. For godowns, the subsidy would be Rs 345 per metric tonne. For cold storage, it is Rs 2,000 per metric tonne. The minimum storage quantity for farmer producer organisations, firms, co-operatives, and farmers is 100metric tonne, for food processing firms, exporters, and agents is 500 metric tonne and that for retailers and state co-operatives it is 1,000 metric tonne.
Interested people can register for the subsidy at https://sampada-mofpi.gov.in.