Centre sanctions 101 cold chain projects

The government on Monday sanctioned 101 cold chain projects, including four in Karnataka, with an aim to reduce post-harvest wastage of fruit and vegetables, promote dairy products and processing of meat, marine and poultry.

Bengaluru-based Supermarket Grocery Supplies has been awarded the project to set up a cold chain project for fruit and vegetables, while Srikrishna Milks (Uttara Kannada), Namdhari Animal Genetics (Bengaluru) and Dairy Classic Ice Creams (Ramanagara) have got approval to set up projects in the dairy sector.

“The government would provide Rs 838 crore as grant-in-aid to set up these 101 projects, while the private sector would raise Rs 2,200 crore,” Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal told reporters here.

Those awarded cold chain projects have to complete their facilities within 18 months, Badal said adding that the government would deduct 1% of the grant-in-aid amount per month if the projects are delayed.

Cold chain projects are expected to help reduce post-harvest wastages that amount to Rs 92,000 crore per year, as per the study conducted by CIPHET in 2014.

Of the 101 projects sanctioned on Monday, 53 are in the fruits and vegetables sector, 33 in dairy category and 15 in the meat-marine-poultry category. The maximum number of cold chain projects will come up in Maharashtra (21), followed by Uttar Pradesh (14), Gujarat (12) and Andhra Pradesh (8). Punjab and Madhya Pradesh will have six projects each.

“We have awarded projects for the first time in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland,” Harsimrat Kaur said.

About 2.6 lakh farmers are expected to benefit from the 101 projects, which would also provide direct/indirect employment opportunities to 60,000 people.

She said that 4.7 million tonnes of agricultural and horticultural produce worth Rs 12,000 crore will be processed in these cold chain projects, reducing wastage by 13%.

These projects will create additional capacity of 2.76 lakh tonnes of cold storage/controlled atmosphere/frozen storage, 115 tonnes/hour of Individual Quick Freezing (IQF), 56 lakh litres per day of milk processing, 210 tonnes per batch of blast freezing, and 629 refrigerated/insulated vehicles.