How to get 2 crore funds from National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility Scheme?
National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility
As we know Agriculture is the backbone of many nations, providing food, employment, and economic stability. The growth and modernization of agriculture heavily depend on the state of its infrastructure, which includes irrigation systems, roads, storage facilities, and more. Recognizing the critical importance of these components, governments around the world have established the National Agriculture Infrastructure Financing Facility (NAIFF) to provide the necessary financial support and investment opportunities. In this blog, we will explore NAIFF in-depth, its objectives, impact, challenges, and the role it plays in shaping the future of agriculture.
The National Agriculture Infrastructure Financing Facility, or NAIFF, is a financial initiative established by governments or in collaboration with financial institutions. Its primary purpose is to promote the development and modernization of agriculture infrastructure. NAIFF provides a range of financial instruments, including loans, grants, subsidies, and technical assistance, to support various projects aimed at enhancing agriculture infrastructure.
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What is the Role of National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility?
The overarching goal of NAIFF is to boost agricultural productivity, improve the income and livelihoods of farmers, reduce post-harvest losses, and ensure the availability of quality produce in the market. This is achieved by funding projects related to irrigation, rural roads, storage facilities, cold chains, marketplaces, and other crucial aspects of agricultural value chains.
Importance of Agriculture Infra Financing Facility
Food Security
Adequate infrastructure is essential for ensuring food security. Irrigation systems, for example, allow farmers to cultivate crops throughout the year, reducing the dependency on unpredictable rain patterns. Storage facilities and cold chains help in preserving perishable produce, preventing wastage, and ensuring a consistent supply of food to the market.
Economic Growth
Investments in agriculture infrastructure stimulate economic growth in rural areas. By creating employment opportunities and facilitating agribusiness activities, NAIFF contributes to poverty reduction and overall economic development.
Sustainable Agriculture
Modernizing agriculture infrastructure often includes promoting sustainable practices. Efficient irrigation systems reduce water wastage, and improved transportation infrastructure reduces the carbon footprint of food distribution. NAIFF’s support for sustainable agriculture aligns with global efforts to combat climate change.
Objective of Agriculture Infra Financing Facility
- Improved marketing infrastructure to allow farmers to sell directly to a larger base of consumers and hence, increase value realization for the farmers. This will improve the overall income of farmers.
- With investments in logistics infrastructure, farmers will be able to sell in the market with reduced post-harvest losses and a smaller number of intermediaries. This further will make farmers independent and improve access to market.
- With modern packaging and cold storage system access, farmers will be able to further decide when to sell in the market and improve realization.
- Community farming assets for improved productivity and optimization of inputs will result in substantial savings to farmers.
- Government will be able to direct priority sector lending in the currently unviable projects by supporting through interest subvention, incentive and credit guarantee. This will initiate the cycle of innovation and private sector investment in agriculture.
- Due to improvements in post-harvest infrastructure, government will further be able to reduce national food wastage percentage thereby enable agriculture sector to become competitive with current global levels. National Agriculture infra financing facility.
- Central/State Government Agencies or local bodies will be able to structure viable PPP projects for attracting investment in agriculture infrastructure.
- With a dedicated source of funding, entrepreneurs will push for innovation in agriculture sector by leveraging new age technologies including IoT, AI.
- It will also connect the players in ecosystem and hence, improve avenues for collaboration between entrepreneurs and farmers- National Agriculture infra financing facility.
- With Credit Guarantee, incentive and interest subvention lending institutions will be able to lend with a lower risk. This scheme will help to enlarge their customer base and diversification of portfolio.
- Refinance facility will enable larger role for cooperative banks and RRBs.
- With reduced inefficiencies in post-harvest ecosystem, key benefit for consumers will be a larger share of produce reaching the market and hence, better quality and prices. Overall, the investment via the financing facility in agriculture infrastructure will benefit all the eco-system players- under National Agriculture infra financing facility
Main Feature of Agriculture Infra Financing Facility
- Convergence with all schemes of central or state government.
- Online single window facility in collaboration with participating lending institutions.
- Project Management Unit to provide handholding support for projects including project preparation.
- Size of the financing facility – ₹ 1 lakh Crore.
- Credit Guarantee for loans up to ₹ 2 Crore.
- Interest subvention of 3% p.a., limited to ₹ 2 crore per project in one location, though loan amount can be higher.
- Cap on lending rate, so that benefit of interest subsidy reaches the beneficiary and services to farmers remain affordable.
- Multiple lending institutions including Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, NCDC, NBFCs etc.
- One eligible entity puts up projects in different locations then all such projects will be eligible under the scheme for loan upto ₹ 2 crore.
- For a private sector entity, such as farmer, agri entrepreneur, start-up there will be a limit of maximum of 25 such projects.
- Limitation of 25 projects will not be applicable to state agencies, national and state federations of cooperatives, federations of FPOs and federation of SHGs.
- Location mean physical boundary of a village or town having a distinct LGD (Local Government Directory) code.
- Each of such project should be in a location having a separate LGD (Local Government Directory) Code.
- APMCs will be eligible for multiple projects (of different infrastructure types) within their designated market area.
- Interest subvention will be available for a maximum period of 7 years.
- Moratorium for repayment under this financing facility may vary subject to minimum of 6 months and maximum of 2 years.
- Disbursement will complete in six years from 2020-21.
- Need based refinance support will be made available by NABARD to all eligible lending entities including cooperative banks and RRBs as per its policy.
Eligible projects under National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility
- Organic inputs production
- Bio stimulant production units
- Nursery
- Tissue culture
- Seed Processing
- Custom Hiring Center
- Infrastructure for smart and precision agriculture
- Farm/Harvest Automation
- Purchase of drones, putting up specialized sensors on field, Blockchain and AI in agriculture etc.
- Remote sensing and Internet of Things (IOT) such as automatic weather station, Farm advisory services through GIS applications.
- Logistics facilities – Reefer Van& Insulated vehicles
- Assaying Units
- Supply chain services including e-marketing platforms
- Warehouse & Silos
- Cold Stores and Cold Chain
- Packaging Units
- Primary Processing activities
| Sl. No. | Crops | Eligible Activities | Not Eligible |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cereals & Millets
Wheat, rice, sorghum,barley, maize, oat, etc. |
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(Bread, biscuits, pasta, snack foods, etc. not eligible) |
| 2. | Fruits and vegetables |
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| 3. | Oilseeds & Oil palms
Groundnut, rapeseed & mustard, soybean, sunflower, sesame, safflower, linseed, olives, oil palm etc. |
|
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| 4. | Pulses
Bengal Gram , Pigeon Peas, Green Gram, Chick Peas, Black Gram, Red Kidney Beans, Black Eyed Peas, White Peas etc. |
|
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| 5. | National Agriculture infra financing facility
Spices Red chilli, Cumin, Clove, Coriander, Cinnamon, Garlic, Ginger, Turmeric, Fenugreek,Cardamom etc. |
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| 6. | Cash Crops | ||
| National Agriculture infra financing facility
Cotton |
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| Sugarcane |
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| Jute |
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| Tea & coffee |
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| Coconut |
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| Rubber |
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| Tobacco |
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| 7. | National Agriculture infra financing facility
Nuts Cashew Almonds Walnuts Pistachios etc. |
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| 8. | National Agriculture infra financing facility
Herbal, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops Barberry, Liquorice, Bael, Isabgol,Guggal, Kerth, Aonla, Chandan, Senna, Baiberang, Brahmi, Eucalyptus, Jatamansi etc. |
|
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| 9. | National Agriculture infra financing facility
Bamboo |
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| 10. | Fodder crops
Berseem, forage sorghum, etc. |
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| 11. | Tuber crops
Sweet Potatoes, Cassava etc. |
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| 12. | National Agriculture infra financing facility
Arecanut |
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In addition to above activities farmer groups such as FPOs, PACS, SHGs, JLGs, Cooperatives, National and State Level Federation of Co-operatives, FPOs federations, Federations of SHGs, National and State Level Agencies etc. are eligible for following activities under National Agriculture infra financing facility.
- Hydroponic Farming
- Mushroom farming
- Vertical farming
- Aeroponic farming
- Poly house/ Greenhouse
- Logistics facilities(including non-refrigerated/insulated vehicles)
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Who can apply for National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility in 2023?
Following are the entity who can apply for National Agriculture infra financing facility in 2023-
- Agricultural Produce Market Committee
- Agri-Entrepreneur
- Central sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project
- Farmer
- Farmer Producers Organization
- Federation of Farmer Produce Organisations
- Joint Liability Groups
- Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project
- Marketing Cooperative Society
- Multipurpose Cooperative Society
- National Federations of Cooperatives
- Primary Agricultural Credit Society
- Self Help Group
- Federations of Self Help Groups
- Start-Up
- State Agencies
- State Federations of Cooperatives
- State sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project
Checklist of Documents required for National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility-
- Bank’s loan application form / Customer Request Letter for AIF Loan duly filled and signed
- Passport size photographs of the promoter/partners/director
- Identity proof – Voter ID card/PAN card/Aadhaar card/Driving license
- Address Proof :
- Residence: Voter ID card/Passport/Aadhaar card/Driving license/Electricity Bill/Latest property Tax Bill
- Business Office/Registered Office: Electricity Bill/Latest Property Tax Receipt/Certificate of Incorporation in case of Companies/Certificate of Registration in ca of partnership Firms
- Proof of Registration:
- In case of Company : Article of Association
- In case of Partnership : Certificate of Registration of Firm with Registrar of Firm
- In case of MSMEs : Certificate of Registration with District Industries Centre (DIC)/Udyog Aadhar Copy
- Income Tax Return for last three years, If available.
- Audited Balance Sheet of last 3 Years, If available.
- GST Certificate, if applicable.
- Land ownership records – title deed/lease deed. If applicable, then Permission to mortgage the Immovable Property from the Lessor in case the Property is Leasehold (for primary security)
- ROC Search Report of the Company
- KYC documents of the promoter/firm/company
- Copy of Bank Statement for last one year (If available)
- Repayment track record of existing loans (Loan Statement)
- Net Worth Statements of promoter
- Detailed Project Report
- As applicable – Local authority permissions, Layout plans/estimates, Building sanction
Before you can proceed, you have to check the DPR Templates.
How to apply online for 2 crore grant collateral free from National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility-
You can follow below process by click on video link. In the below video all process has been elaborated step by step-
Conclusion of National Agriculture Infrastructure Financing Facility (NAIFF) Scheme
In conclusion, the National Agriculture Infrastructure Financing Facility (NAIFF) plays a vital role in transforming agriculture by providing the financial support needed to develop and modernize critical infrastructure. Its impact on food security, economic growth, and sustainability cannot be overstated. However, NAIFF also faces challenges related to funding, implementation, and sustainability. To shape the future of agriculture effectively, NAIFF must leverage technology, embrace public-private partnerships, and prioritize climate resilience. As we look ahead, NAIFF remains a beacon of hope for agriculture’s continued growth and prosperity.
