Farmers are the lifeline of our nation who work tirelessly to help reach the food supply to the masses. To support the farmers, the Government has launched the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund scheme.

This scheme allows farmers to get greater value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at higher prices, reduce wastage, and increase processing and value addition. Moreover, they can avail of loans of up to ₹2 crores at a subsidised rate.

Keep reading to understand these agricultural schemes in detail.

The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund scheme is a financing facility that offers beneficiaries a loan of up to ₹1 lakh crores. It is a long-term debt financing facility that focuses on projects for community farming assets and post-harvest management infrastructure through credit guarantees.

This scheme further supports the Farmer Producer Organisation, agri-entrepreneurs, and Primary Agricultural Credit Society.

Under this scheme, the financial institutions will provide ₹1 lakh crore as credit to borrowers while levying a 3% interest rate. Also, beneficiaries will receive a credit guarantee coverage under the CGTMSE scheme for loans up to ₹2 crores.

Let’s learn the primary objective behind creating agricultural schemes in India.

Following are the objectives of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund scheme -

• This scheme aims to offer a long term debt financing facility for investment for projects concerned with community farming assets and post-harvest management Infrastructure.
• These funds will support the requirements such as e-marketing points linked to e-trading platforms, cold storage and chains setting, maintaining a warehouse, fund PPP projects for crop aggregation by state, local or central body.

Individuals have to fulfil certain eligibility requirements to make an application for Agritech Infrastructure Fund.

Eligibility Criteria for Agriculture Infrastructure Funding in India

Following are the eligibility criteria against the mentioned scheme -

• Applicants must belong to categories, such as Marketing Cooperative Society, PACS, agri-entrepreneurs, farmers, start-ups, FPOs, central or state agency, PPP projects, etc.
• In terms of borrowing, lending institutions will decide the borrower eligibility in discussion with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
• Financial institutions such as Non-banking Financial Companies, National Cooperative Development Corporation, scheduled cooperative banks, commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks, etc., are mandated to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with NABARD to be eligible for financing.

Potential borrowers have to submit certain documents to complete the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund application.

Following are documents needed for the application of the said scheme.

• Article of Association
• The balance sheet of the last 3 years
• Bank statement for last one year
• Bank’s loan application form
• Certificate of registration of firm with the registrar of firm
• Certificate of registration with district industries centre for MSMEs
• Detailed project report
• Electricity bill or latest Property Tax receipt
• GST certificate
• Identity and Address proof
• KYC papers
• Land ownership records
• Local authority permissions
• Net worth statements of promoter
• Proof of company registration
• Repayment track record of existing loans
• ROC search report of the company

Individuals must belong to the mentioned categories to qualify for this Agriculture Infrastructure Fund scheme.

• Agri-entrepreneurs
• Central, state agency or local body sponsored Public-Private Partnership projects
• Farmer producer organisation
• Farmers
• Joint liability groups
• Marketing cooperative societies
• Multipurpose cooperative societies
• Primary agricultural credit society
• Self-help group
• Start-ups

Individuals who fall in the mentioned category have to make an application to avail this loan.

The steps to make beneficiary registration for the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund scheme are as follows.

Step 1: Visit the official website of the National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility and click on the registration link on the beneficiary tab in the main menu.

Step 2: Fill in the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund Scheme online registration form with required information such as mobile number, name, Aadhaar number, etc.

Step 3: Click on “Send OTP” and enter the pin for verification. They will be able to access the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund Online application form from the DPR tab after registration is complete.

Step 4:  Applicants can select the preferred scheme and enter email ID or beneficiary ID and password to proceed with the application process.

Step 5:  Fill in project details, cost, land status, loan details, etc., and upload the filled form and click on “Submit” to complete the process.

After submission of this application, the ministry will scrutinise the filled data. After that, the authority will send this application to the selected lender for loan approval. The lender will assess the project viability and sanction the fund accordingly.

An applicant will receive a status update on the registered mobile number.

Let’s learn about the benefits of availing of this scheme.

This financing facility offers numerous advantages to its beneficiaries. Some of them are discussed below.

Benefits for FPOs, Farmers, PACS and marketing cooperative societies:

• This scheme aims to boost the income of farmers
• AIF will aid in improving the marketing infrastructure of farmers. This will lead to better sales and consumer base
• Farmers will have the power to decide where to operate and sell in the market
• They can use cold storage and modern packaging systems.

Benefits for start-ups and agri-entrepreneurs:

• AIF will offer better opportunities for collaboration between farmers and entrepreneurs
• Entrepreneurs can incorporate innovation in the agriculture sector by introducing new-age technologies including AI and IoT.

Benefits in terms of financial aid:

• This credit will be disbursed in four years. In the primary stage, nearly ₹10,000 crores will be disbursed followed by ₹30,000 crores each in the next three fiscal years
• Eligible borrowers will receive credit guarantee coverage under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises for a loan up to ₹2 crores.
• The National Monitoring Committee will fix the interest rate levied and loan amount offered to private entrepreneurs
• The Government will pay a fee for AIF coverage
• A moratorium for repayment will range from 6 months to 2 years.

These are some vital data on the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund that applicants need to check beforehand. They should evaluate fund requirements before making a loan application. This will ease out their repayment structure.