The government of India has undertaken a mid-term evaluation of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme. Agro Economic Research Centre (AERC), Pune, evaluated the scheme’s progress and performance, gathered beneficiary feedback, and suggested improvements in December 2023.
The evaluation highlighted the positive impact of the scheme in terms of increased farmers’ income, enhanced agricultural storage capacity, growth of post-harvest and value-addition infrastructure for agricultural produce, employment generation, and promotion of agricultural entrepreneurship. Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur shared the information in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The review highlighted that nearly 85% of AIF units were established primarily due to the availability of AIF loans, which on average covered 40% of project costs. About 70% of units used loans for creating new infrastructure, while 31% also availed government subsidies, benefitting from convergence.
The scheme has also been a strong driver of rural jobs. Each unit employed an average of 11 people during peak seasons, with Rajasthan reporting the highest average of 27 workers per unit. Agro-processing units generated more jobs than others. The employment generated by AIF unit activities was relatively higher in peak seasons than in slack seasons.
In terms of infrastructure, sample AIF-supported warehouses, cold storages and silos together created a capacity of 8.79 lakh MT and occupied 29 lakh sq. ft. of area.
Most of the units are situated in the rural areas, indicating proximity to the agriculture production regions, and around 54% of the respondents believed that the incomes of farmers have increased because of the AIF units. Around 54% of the respondents felt that, overall, the farmers have benefitted due to the AIF facilities.
As of June 30, 2025, the scheme has sanctioned ₹66,310 crore for 113,419 projects, mobilizing an investment of ₹1.07 lakh crore in the agriculture sector. Key projects include 30,202 custom hiring centres, 22,827 processing units, 15,982 warehouses, 3,703 sorting and grading units, 2,454 cold storages, and over 38,000 other post-harvest management projects.
The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister on May 15, 2020, as part of the ₹1 lakh crore Agri Infrastructure Fund to develop farm-gate infrastructure for farmers. Under this initiative, a financing facility of ₹1,00,000 crore was created to support Agriculture Infrastructure Projects at farm-gate and aggregation points through Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs), agri-entrepreneurs and start-ups. All loans under this financing facility will have an interest subvention of 3% per annum, up to a limit of ₹2 crore.