Government announces Rs 10,000 cr for promotion of healthy, organic food produces

The government is set to focus on promoting organically grown food items after the coronavirus lookdown is over. The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Rs 10,000 crore fund will be set up by the government to help brand and promote health foods produced across India. This will be a cluster-based approach in order to accommodate specialities of various states' produce.

The government believes that around 2 lakh MSMEs are expected to benefit from the move. The finance minister also said that additional focus will be laid on promoting women, SCs and STs involved in cultivation of these items. 

The finance minister also announced the setting up of an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund worth Rs 15,000 crore to support private investment in Dairy Processing, value addition and cattle feed infrastructure. To promote Herbal Cultivation in India, Government has committed Rs 4000 crore.

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The latter is aimed to cover 10 lakh hectare under herbal cultivation in 2 years. A corridor of medicinal plants was also confirmed to come up across banks of Ganga.

Announcing third tranche of Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 10,000 crore package for the Micro Food Enterprises (MFEs). This move of the Government of India will provide safety to around 2 lakh MFEs in India. FM Sitharaman said that the move has been taken to ensure that the 'Vocal for Local' slogan, coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the nation while announcing Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package, gets a strong boost.

Today, she started by praising farmers who according to her, have worked against all odds but still propelled India on the global stage. She said that she will lay out 11 pointers in total, of which eight will be dedicated to strengthening of infrastructure and logistical needs of the sector.