Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana: Objectives, Features, Key Points | UPSC

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana PMKSY is a central sector scheme launched by the Government of India in 2017. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada scheme is related to modernising and strengthening the country's food processing sector. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India, implements the scheme. The scheme aims to create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the entire value chain, from farm to market. 

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana falls under UPSC in General Studies paper 3. It comes under the topics such as the food processing industry, agriculture marketing and the government schemes for farmers. It applies to the issues of agriculture, economy and infrastructure. The scheme is conducive to value addition and less wastage, so it is needed to prepare for the Prelims and Mains exams. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana UPSC is one of the most important topics for the UPSC IAS Examination.

In this article on Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana UPSC, we shall discuss its features, benefits, objectives, implementation status, and suggestions to improve the food processing sector in India in detail. This will be very useful for aspirants in the UPSC Prelims Exam.

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What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana?

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana is a scheme under the central sector by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India. In 2016, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries or MoFPI suggested an integrated Program for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of the Agro-Processing Clusters or SAMPADA, for 6000 crores between 201620. In 2017, the program was changed to Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana PMKSY with a name change. 

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PMKSY is a holistic programme that develops modern infrastructure and ensures seamless supply chain administration from farm to store. The initiative promotes expanding the country's food processing industry while assisting farmers in receiving greater returns. It is a significant step toward establishing many jobs in rural regions, thereby enhancing farmers' income, expanding processing facilities, minimizing agricultural waste, and increasing the sale of processed goods. Join the UPSC coaching today and boost your preparation.

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Key Points

• Processing is significant in the process of linking the Indian farmers to domestic and international markets and consumers.
• Modern processing methods adopted in food lead to increased shelf life of the agricultural produce and guarantee continuity of income to farmers.
• The processed food industry is projected to reach $543 billion by 2020, up from2016s $322 billion with a Compound Annual Growth Rate or CAGR of 14.6 per cent.

Compound Annual Growth Rate

• CAGR represents an investment's average annual growth rate over a given period of more than a year.

Also, read about priority sector lending for UPSC here.

Objectives of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana is a scheme by the Indian government to bring about modernization and strengthen the Indian agricultural and food processing industry. The most important goals of the PMKSY are:

• To develop the modern infrastructure related to the processing and preserving of agricultural products. This involves the making of cold chains, warehouses and food processing units.
• To improve value addition to the agricultural products through commercialization, food processing, agri-business and the allied activities.
• To create job opportunities, especially in rural areas, through investing and entrepreneurship in the food processing industry.
• To boost the farmers' income, minimize post-harvest losses, expand market access and achieve better prices for the farm products.
• To improve food safety, quality requirements and food preservation hygienic practices in food production.
• To attract supply chain management to interlink farmers with the national and international markets to minimize wastage and increase market access.

Also, study the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana from the linked article.

Features of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana possesses such features:

• The scheme is holistic and integrated to build an end-to-end food processing value chain at both ends of the food processing farm gate to the end consumer by covering infrastructure, capacity building and market linkages.
• The PMKSY focuses on the development of Mega Food Parks. They are composite industrial parks that have infrastructural provisions for food processing plants.
• The plan allows the development of modern infrastructure that will involve the processing, handling, and preserving of farm products. This consists of cold chain, warehouses and processing facilities.
• The PMKSY involves grants and subsidies to a deserving body participating in the food processing business.
• The scheme aspires to ease the implementation of superior technology, best practices, and quality standards in the food processing business.
• The PMKSY promotes the establishment and development of Farmer-Producer Organizations to enable farmers to increase their bargaining power in the market arena.

Study about the PM Kusum Scheme here.

Key Components Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

The critical points are the projects such as Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, and establishment/expansion of Food Processing Preservation Capacities. It also comprises Infrastructure Agro-processing Clusters, Backward/Forward Linkages, Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, Human Resources and Institutions.

Mega Food Parks

Mega Food Parks is a scheme launched by the Government of India under the Kisan Sampada Yojana to provide modern infrastructure facilities for food processing units in the country. The scheme strives for an excellent and effective supply chain management system that leads from farm to market by uniting the farmers, processors, and retailers. It rests on a strategy of clusters, which develops a state-of-the-art infrastructure to establish the idea of creating modern food processing units in a well-formalized agri/horticultural area. The scheme also allocates industrial lands with well-defined supply chains to the food processing machines in the park. It is undertaken in the country, which is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as a legal entity formed under the Companies Act of 2013. At the moment, 41 Mega Food Parks are supported by the scheme. Mega Food Park Scheme endorses the vision of the Government of India through Make in India or Atma Nirbhar Bharat. 

• To establish state-of-the-art facilities in food processing units.
• To have value addition of agronomic products.
• To develop a long-term raw material supply chain.
• To ease the induction of the latest technology.
• To support the small family and micro food processing business.
• To provide an institutional method of collaboration between the producers, processors and retailers to construct a supply chain: The scheme will provide an institutional method of cooperation between the retail, producers and processors to create a supply chain. 

Value addition/ integrated cold chain infrastructure

The scheme to arrest the post-harvest loss of horticulture and non-horticulture produce is through the Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure scheme. Financial support is provided to set up the integrated cold chain, preservation and value-addition infrastructure facilities.

The creation/ expansion of food processing/ preservation capacity

The objective of the Creation/Expansion of Food Processing/Preservation Capacities (Unit Scheme) is to raise the extent of processing, value addition, and minimization of wastage through the financing to establish, develop and modernize processing and preservation capacities.

Agro-processing Clusters Infrastructure

The scheme on Infrastructure of Agro-Processing Clusters seeks to achieve the following: establish modern food processing infrastructure near the production zones; ensure comprehensive and integrated preservation infrastructure at all levels farm gate to the consumer; establish productive backward and forward linkages by ensuring that group of producers/farmers are linked to the processors and the markets, through an efficiently equipped supply chain.

Backwards and Forward Linkages

The Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters strategy is to develop a modern infrastructure of food processing nearer to places of production, offer integrated and complete infrastructure-preservation capabilities at the farm-gate to consumer level, and develop effective backward and forward linkages between groups of producers/farmers with the processors and markets through a well-equipped supply chain.

Food Quality and Food Safety Infrastructure

The Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure scheme is expected to put in place a surveillance mechanism of the quality and composition of food, examining the samples that arrive in the processing industry or any other stakeholder and also minimize the time taken to analyze the sample as a result of reducing the travel time of the sample. The scheme is also geared towards the international and domestic acceptance of food through adherence to global and domestic standards, such as exports and imports.

HRI

The scheme is expected to foster R&D practices in the food processing industry, which may lead to product and process innovation, efficient technology, value addition and standardization, and packaging improvements.

A study about the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is here.

Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

The implementation process will identify projects that will involve productivity and cut waste, seek proposals in different sectors, and offer funding and other financial support to the projects that will be approved. It also entails assessing and approving viable projects, routine appraisal and evaluation of project programs, capacity development and technical support to the stakeholders, and publicity of the scheme through massive outreach programs.

• The government is also intervening to enhance the food processing sector to cut and eradicate post-harvest losses.
• The Ministry has sanctioned nearly 42 Mega Food Parks and 236 Integrated Cold Chains of food processing industries to make food processing worthy of a modern infrastructure.
• SAMPADA is concerned with open-ended supply chains to bridge any existing chain so that it can operate smoothly.
• It is also concerned with the growth and expansion of the already existing food processing unit.
• It also strives to locate agro clusters and subsidize them to enable easy transfer of food items between the manufacturer and the market.
• To enhance the food processing industry, other significant steps are taken by the Indian government, like the permission to 100 per cent FDI in the Indian production of food goods and the e-commerce of food goods manufactured in India.
• This Yojana will have many advantages for farmers as their income will be increased, new employment opportunities will be made available, the export of processed foods will be resumed, and food waste will be minimized.
• The project aims to bring up processing units by supplying all the required elements and stimulating India in food processing.

Study about the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana here.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for availing benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana may vary depending on the specific components and schemes within the PMKSY. However, in general, the following entities may be eligible:

• Individuals, farmers, and farmer-producer organizations (FPOs) engaged in agriculture and allied activities.
• Agro-based industries, food processing units, and entrepreneurs involved in food processing and preservation.
• Cooperatives, self-help groups (SHGs), and organizations involved in the agricultural and food processing sector.
• Entities fulfilling specific criteria outlined by the implementing agencies and departments.

Read the article on Kisan Vikas Patra!

Benefits of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) advantages include the establishment of current infrastructure and an effective supply chain that will result in less food waste and an increase in farmer earnings. This integrated solution is geared towards improving the productivity of India's agricultural and food processing sectors on a sustainable basis.

• More processing of agricultural produce: PMKSY has raised agricultural produce processing by 12 percent. The resultant effect has been improved value to farmers and reduced post-harvest losses.
• Created employment opportunities: The PMKSY has created over 2 million jobs in the food processing sector. This has helped to boost rural employment and income.
• Improved quality and safety of processed food: The PMKSY has helped to improve the quality and safety of processed food. This has made Indian processed food more competitive in the global market.
• Promoted exports of processed food: The PMKSY has helped to encourage exports of processed food by 15%. This has helped to increase the country's foreign exchange earnings.
• Reduced post-harvest losses: The PMKSY has helped to reduce post-harvest losses by 5%. This has saved farmers money and ensured that more food is available for consumers.

Read the article on Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana!

The Problems that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has encountered

Although Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana will help in enhancing the agricultural and food processing sector in India, the scheme encounters some challenges:

• There is a need to coordinate various stakeholders to implement the scheme successfully. These are the central and state government agencies, industry players and the farmer organizations.
• The scheme can be successful when sufficient finances are available. It may be challenging to ensure that the amount of funds allocated in the budget is adequate and to attract private investments.
• All the required infrastructure (cold chains, storage places, processing units, and so on) is to be constructed, which demands investments and could be logistically complicated in remote and rural locations.
• The capacity and skills of farmers, entrepreneurs, and workers of the food processing industry must be built so that the scheme can be successful. Skill development programs and training should be executed properly.
• It may not be easy to create connections with the market and make sure that processed agricultural products are always in demand. Developing domestic and international markets and activities, as well as promoting branding and marketing activities, are essential.

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