
Budget may allocate ₹28,000 crore to food processing schemes to aid farmers
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: The Centre is considering a significant expansion of its flagship food processing schemes, with a proposed allocation of around ₹28,000 crore over the next five years in the upcoming Union budget to boost value addition, reduce post-harvest losses and improve farmers’ incomes through better market linkages, according to two government officials aware of the matter.
This proposed allocation is for two schemes—Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) that are set to lapse at the end of FY26. Under PMFME, additional funds will help expand credit-linked subsidies, technology upgradation, branding and marketing support for micro food processing units, including self-help groups (SHGs) and farmer producer organizations (FPOs).
PMKSY focuses on creating modern infrastructure such as cold chain networks, agro-processing clusters and food testing laboratories. An allocation of ₹15,000 crore is being considered for PMFME, which was launched in June 2020 with a total outlay of ₹10,000 crore for FY2020-25 and was later extended up to FY26.
As much as ₹13,000 crore is being considered for PMKSY, which was launched on 23 August 2017 (the scheme was renamed from SAMPADA to PMKSY) with an allocation of ₹6,000 crore for FY2016-20 and later extended till FY21, the government officials cited earlier said on the condition of anonymity. The PMKSY scheme was further extended till FY26 with an increased allocation of ₹6,520 crore.
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