‘Operation Greens’ is an ambitious intiative taken by central government announced by Nirmala Sitaraman, to improve Price stability and integrated value chains.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries,MoFPI, has issued afresh notification regarding its extension of ambit of ‘Operation Greens’ , leading a short term intervention in the list. Newly, more vegetables and fruits are now under jurisdiction of the ‘Operation Greens’.
Previously, the covered fruits included mango, banana, guava, kiwi, lichi, papaya, citrus, pineapple, pomegranate and jackfruit while the vegetables covered included French beans, bitter gourd, brinjal, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, chillies (green), okra, onion, potato and tomato.
The updated fruit list includes orange, kinnow, lime, lemon, apple, almond, aonla, passion fruit, pear, sweet potato and chikoo, while, the new vegetables included in the list are cucumber, peas, garlic, large cardamom, pumpkin, ginger, cabbage, squash and dry turmeric.
‘Operation Greens’ is a central government layout, announced by MoFPI, designed originally for Integrated development of Tomato, Onion and Potato value chain with a monetary input of 500 crore. This centralised scheme has two components namely Price stabilization (constitute short term plans) and integrated value chain development (comes under long term plan).
Under the grandiose of most sought after intiative ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’, Government roll out ‘Operation Greens’ for all vegetables and fruits (TOTAL). Under this 50% subsidy will be accrued on the transportation costs and also 50% cost reduction can be availed under the subsidy for storage in Cold stores.
Minimum quantity to be procured and transported/stored per applicant (may consist of one or more than notified crops) will be 100 MT for FPO/FPC, co-operative, individual farmers; 500 MT for food processor, exporter, licensed commission agent; and 1,000 MT for retailers, state marketing/co-operative federation, according to the MoFPI note.
The MoFPI note also defines the category of the eligible entities for claim application. MoFPI is the nodal agency for food processors, FPO, FPC, cooperative society, state marketing /cooperative federation and retailers while for exporters, and APEDA is the nodal agency.