- The Prime Minister of India announced an increase in the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund lending ceiling from ₹1 lakh crore to ₹2 lakh crore, to reinforce farm-gate to market infrastructure and strengthen the agricultural value chain.
- Nature of Scheme: AIF is a Central Sector financing facility providing medium- and long-term debt for building post-harvest and community-level agricultural assets.
- Timeframe: Operational from 2020–21 to 2029–30.
- Core Objective: Promote private and cooperative investment in storage, logistics, and modern farm infrastructure using interest subsidy and credit guarantees.
- Financial Support: Eligible loans receive 3% interest subvention per year, along with credit guarantee cover for borrowings up to ₹2 crore through CGTMSE.
- Who Can Apply: Individual farmers, PACS, FPOs, SHGs, and institutional bodies such as APMCs.
- What Can Be Funded:
- Storage and processing facilities (warehouses, cold chains, cold storages, ripening units).
- Shared farming infrastructure including precision agriculture tools like drones, sensors, and AI systems.
- Why AIF Matters: High reliance on agriculture, dominance of small landholders, and large post-harvest losses make infrastructure investment critical for income stability and productivity.
- Complementary Infrastructure Initiatives
- Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI): Financial assistance for rural godown construction.
- Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region: Cluster-based organic farming in the Northeast.
- Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana: Targets 22 million tonnes fish output and ₹1 lakh crore exports.
- Micro Irrigation Fund: ₹5,000 crore corpus to widen drip and sprinkler coverage.
