Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala has launched the realigned Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) scheme and urged the industry and cooperatives to take advantage. The scheme, which was initiated during the challenging period of the Covid pandemic, will now be implemented for the next three years. The Cabinet has approved the realignment of AHIDF under the Infrastructure Development Fund with an increased outlay of Rs 29,610 crore, up from Rs 15,000 crore. The realigned scheme includes the subsuming of the Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund. Dairy cooperatives will now benefit from a 3% interest subvention under AHIDF and credit guarantee support under the Credit Guarantee Fund. The scheme aims to upgrade processing infrastructure, benefiting a large number of milk producers across the country.

During the launch event, industry associations, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), dairy cooperatives, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO), and officials from Northeastern states were present. ABIS Export Pvt Ltd, one of the eligible entities, commended the scheme for creating infrastructure in the livestock sector and announced an investment of Rs 2,000 crore for infrastructure development. Dishala Livelihood Producer Company Ltd, an FPO, shared their dairy processing and value-addition project at Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, which was set up in collaboration with Manthan Organisation under AHIDF. Amba Feed also highlighted their animal feed plant in Coimbatore established under AHIDF.

The AHIDF scheme was initially launched on June 24, 2020, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan initiative. It has already received over 5,000 project proposals and has generated around 15 lakh employment opportunities, benefitting small and marginal farmers along with industries.