PM Modi at the launch of the agricultural infrastructure fund (Twitter/@BJP4India)Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Sunday (9 August) kick-started a financing facility of Rs 1 lakh crore under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
The facility is going to benefit scores of agri-entrepreneurs, startups, agri-tech players and farmer groups for post-harvest management and nurturing farm assets, Business Standard reported.
The agriculture infrastructure fund was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat economic package in May.
The PM also sent the Rs 17,000 crore to at least 8.5 crore farmers across the country that are beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.
The PM said, this amount had been credited “with a single click”.
“No middlemen or commission, it went straight to farmers. I am satisfied because the objective of the scheme is being fulfilled,” the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi launched the agriculture infrastructure fund virtually through video conferencing.
Infrastructure to be created through the fund would include post-harvest infrastructure and community farming assets such as cold storage, collection centres and processing units.
This will provide an impetus for development of other financially viable post-harvest management infrastructure, as per the government.
It was announced in view of the lack of adequate cold chain and post-harvest management infrastructure in the vicinity of farm-gate that causes gaps in value chains.
PM Modi launched the fund virtually through video conferencing. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and senior ministry official were also present during the launch.
The PM also interacted with several farmers from various states post the launch.
(With inputs from IANS)
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