Making the aforesaid announcement at a National Conclave on “Strengthening of Farm-to-Consumer Cold-Chain Infrastructure” under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, joint secretary, ministry of agriculture & farmers welfare and mission director MIDH Dr Shakil Ahammed added that the proposed policy would be evolved in due course of time in necessary consultations, with all concerned stakeholders including the chamber of commerce such as PHD Chamber.
In addition, the joint secretary also declared saying that the Centre has decided to expand the capacities of storage facilities for onions in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and even Karnataka to ensure minimum wastages on onion in view of its recent production in which farmers had to virtually throw away their onion produce in the absence of storage facilities in certain pockets of Maharashtra and even Karnataka.
Dr Ahammed informed that capacity expansion for storage facilities in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra would be respectively done to an extent of 38,000 tonne, 6,800 tonne and 12,000 tonne although, he gave no time limit for the job.
Elaborating on the new National Policy on Cold Chain for agri and horticulture products, Dr Ahammed indicated that the focus of the government of the day would be productivity and quality of the produce of both agri and horti products and that the policy for storing the agri and hori items would be designed keeping in view the two aspects of agri and horti produce so that the farmers do not loose on their produce and the consumer gets the best of the price in the entire supply value chain of the marketing of agri and horti produce.
During the occasion, a report on ‘Doubling Farmer’s Income by Strengthening India’s Cold Chain 2016’ was released jointly by Dr Mahesh Gupta, president, PHD Chamber; Pawanexh Kohli, CEO & chief advisor, National Centre for Cold Chain Development; Cedric Prevost, counsellor for agricultural affairs, regional economic service, French Embassy; Ashish Mohan Wig, chairman, Roads, Ports & Other Infrastructure Committee, PHD Chamber; and Saurabh Sanyal, secretary-general, PHD Chamber; along with Dr Ranjeet Mehta, its director.
The report highlights that as per latest estimates 1,219 cold stores are either permanently closed or not available and the total number of functional cold stores is 5,367, amount to a total storage size of 26.85 million tonne. Therefore, a new National Policy on Cold Chain is called for accompanying host of incentives and tax holiday schemes so that investors flock in to create such infrastructure as is required to plug wastage in agri and horti products. It adds that seamless cold chain infrastructure is essential for doubling the incomes of farmers by 2022 as enunciated by prime minister Narendra Modi.
