Food Processing

FSSA 2006 is an Act enacted to keep with changing needs/requirements of time and to consolidate the laws relating to food and establish the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. The Act was needed to bring out a single statutory body for food laws, standards setting and enforcement so that there is one agency to deal and no confusion in the minds of consumers, traders, manufacturers and investors which was due to multiplicity of food laws.

National Livestock Mission is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The mission, which commenced from 2014-15, has been designed with the objective of sustainable development of the livestock sector. 
NABARD is the subsidy channelizing agency under Entrepreneurship Development & Employment Generation (EDEG) component of National Livestock Mission. This includes:
1) Poultry Venture Capital Fund (PVCF).
2) Integrated Development of Small Ruminants and Rabbit (IDSRR).
3) Pig Development (PD).
4) Salvaging and Rearing of Male Buffalo Calves (SRMBC).

It is common knowledge that there is a need to promote agriculture marketing infrastructure projects for reducing the involvement of intermediates and minimizing post-harvest losses. A robust agriculture marketing infrastructure will ensure better remuneration to farmers and supply of better quality products to consumers and processing industries. During the XII plan period, the estimated investment for marketing infrastructure and value chain development was $ 8.61 billion .

To address this need, the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Govt. of India has introduced the Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) Scheme by merging the earlier GrameenBhandaranYojana (GBY) and the Scheme for Development/Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization (AMIGS).

In order to discourage distress sale of produce by farmers and to encourage them to store their produce in warehouses against warehouse receipts, Government of India (GoI) had introduced a scheme in 2011-12 for extending concessional loans to the farmers against negotiable warehouse receipts. Post-harvest loans against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWR) provided by banks to Small and marginal farmers (SF/MF) having Kisan Credit Cards, would be eligible for interest subvention, for a period of up to six months on the same rate as available to crop loan. 

SF/MF, who have not availed crop loans through banking system, would not be eligible. No additional subvention towards prompt repayment, as is available for crop loans, is envisaged under the scheme.