The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved setting up of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) worth Rs. 15000 crore.
Practice question for mains:
Q. In pursuit of doubling farmer’s income, development of animal husbandry has to play a crucial role. Discuss.
About AHIDF
- The fund is part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus packages to help people affected by the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- The AHIDF would promote infrastructure investments in dairy, meat processing and animal feed plants.
- Farmer producer organizations (FPOs), MSMEs, Section 8 companies, private companies and individual entrepreneurs would be eligible to benefit from the fund.
- It will ensure the availability of capital to meet upfront investment required for these projects and also help enhance overall returns/ payback for investors.
Provisions of the AHIDF
- The beneficiaries will have to contribute 10 per cent margin towards the proposed infra project and the rest 90 per cent would be a loan component to be made available to them by scheduled banks.
- The balance 90% would be the loan component to be made available by scheduled banks.
- Government of India will provide 3% interest subvention to eligible beneficiaries.
- There will be 2 years moratorium period for the principal loan amount and 6 years repayment period thereafter.
