Central government sanctions 101 new Integrated Cold Chain Projects
The National Cold Chain Grid has been drawn up so that all food producing hubs are connected to cold storage and processing industries.
India is one of the largest food producers in the world and is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables; yet only 2.2% of the country's fruits and vegetables are processed, the Ministry said.
India requires affordable cold storages and cold chains at every food producing hub in the country. While existing cold storage plants are concentrated in few states and roughly 80 to 90% are used for potatoes, India has a long way to go, according to the ministry.
The ministry had announced sanction of 30 Cold Chain Projects in May, 2015.
On Monday, it announced the sanction of 101 new Integrated Cold Chain Projects spread across the country.
These projects are for fruits and vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, marine, poultry, ready to eat/ready to cook sectors.
The ministry said it is focusing on creating Cold Chain infrastructure by strategic planning, which will eventually form a Cold Chain Grid in the entire country.
The scheme of Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure provides financial assistance up to Rs. 10 crore for entrepreneurs.
These 101 new Integrated Cold chain projects will leverage total investment of Rs. 3100 crore for creation of modern infrastructure for the food processing sector. The total expected grant-in-aid to be released to these projects is Rs. 838 crore.
The 101 new Cold chain Projects will create additional capacity of 2.76 lakh MT of Cold Storage/Controlled Atmosphere/Frozen Storage, 115 MT per hour of Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) capacity, 56 lakh litres per day of Milk Processing, 210 MT per batch of Blast Freezing and 629 Refrigerated/Insulated vehicles.
The infrastructure will also reduce wastage of perishables, add value to the agricultural produce and create huge employment opportunities especially in rural areas, the ministry said.
Image: MyGovIndia Twitter
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