Parliament Question: Food and Cereal Wastage

GOVERMENTOF INDIA MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3422 ANSWERED ON 12TH MARCH, 2026 FOOD AND CEREAL WASTAGE 3422. MD ABU TAHER KHAN: Will the Minister of FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has assessed the extent of food and cereal wastage across the country, particularly at the stages of procurement, storage, transportation and processing, during the last five years and if so, the details thereof, year and commodity-wise; (b) whether inadequate storage infrastructure, lack of modern processing facilities and post- harvest losses are key contributors to such wastage and if so, the steps taken by the Ministry to address these gaps through food processing units, cold chains and value-addition initiatives; and (c) whether the Government proposes to introduce or expand schemes to reduce food and cereal wastage by promoting modern food processing technologies, decentralised storage and farmer-level processing units and if so, the details and timelines thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES (SHRI RAVNEET SINGH) (a) The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) estimates post-harvest losses from time to time for various agri-produces in the country through commissioning of studies based on primary surveys. Two studies were commissioned by the Ministry through (i) Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) -Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering & Technology (CIPHET), 2015 with reference year 2012-14 and (ii) NABARD Consultancy Service Pvt. Ltd (NABCONS), 2022 with reference year 2020-22. The available studies on post-harvest losses are periodic in nature and do not provide year-wise estimates. As per the latest study conducted by NABCONS, commodity wise estimate of post-harvest losses of various crops covered under the category cereals are as below: Crops Paddy Wheat Maize Bajra Sorghum Harvesting 1.42 1.44 0.9 0.97 1.55 Collection 0.42 0.33 0.37 0.29 0.33 Threshing 0.97 1.05 1.2 1.13 1.8 Winnowing /cleaning 0.4 0.34 0.19 0.16 0.35 Farm Drying 0.33 0.05 0.16 0.22 0.1 Operations Packaging 0.13 0.01 0.11 0.25 0.25 Storage 0.4 0.29 0.17 0.31 0.23 Transport 0.1 0.1 0.12 0.26 0.13 Total loss in farm operations 4.16 3.61 3.22 3.59 4.75 Godown 0.06 0.02 0.003 0.13 0.05 Wholesalers 0.23 0.13 0.29 0.12 0.76 Market Level Retailers 0.03 0.05 0.14 0.07 0.16 Assessment Processing Unit 0.16 0.28 0.09 0.13 0.02 Transport 0.12 0.08 0.14 0.32 0.19Total Loss in Market level 0.61 0.56 0.67 0.78 1.17 Overall total losses 4.77 4.17 3.89 4.37 5.92 Source: NABCONS Study 2022 (b) As per the assessment reports available, inadequate storage infrastructure and lack of modern processing facilities are some of the key factors contributing to post-harvest losses of agricultural produce. To address these issues, MoFPI supports the creation and expansion of the processing/preservation capacity through implementation of various schemes for the overall development of food processing sector, including creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlets, to reduce post-harvest losses and to increase the level of processing. The schemes being implemented by MoFPI are as follows: MoFPI is implementing a Central Sector Umbrella Scheme- PMKSY since 2016-17 to create post-harvest infrastructure and processing capacity. The component schemes under PMKSY are (i) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, (ii) Creation of Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters, (iii) Creation / Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities (iv) Operation Greens (v) Food Safety and Quality Assurance - Food Testing Laboratories (FTL) (vi) Human Resource & Institutions- Research & Development (vii) Mega Food Parks (the component has been discontinued with effect from 01.04.2021 with provision for committed liabilities only) and (viii) Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages (the component has been discontinued from 1st April 2021). MoFPI provides credit linked financial assistance (capital subsidy) in the form of grants-in-aid to the eligible applicants as per the scheme guidelines and as on December 2025, 1607 projects have been approved under PMKSY out of which 1196 projects have been completed. MoFPI is implementing the PLISFPI for the period FY 2021-22 to FY 2026-27 with an approved outlay of ₹10,900 crore, to support the creation of global food manufacturing champions, commensurate with India’s natural resource endowment, and to support Indian brands of food products in international markets. By 31st December, 2025, 169 applications have been approved under the scheme, with beneficiaries reporting investments of ₹9,207 crore and incentives disbursed amounting to ₹2,162.55 crore. Furthermore, to provide comprehensive support for establishing or upgrading micro food processing enterprises assistance is provided through PMFME scheme. As of 31st December 2025, 4,04,062 applications have been sent to banks and 1,72,707 loans have been sanctioned with term loan amount of Rs. 14.19 thousand crores. Seed Capital support has been sanctioned for 3,74,819 women SHG members amounting to Rs. 1277.45 Crore. Additionally, the programme has successfully trained 693 Master Trainers, 1,312 District Level Trainers, and 1,36,723 beneficiaries across 36 States and Union Territories. With creation of food processing infrastructure under the above schemes, the demand for farm produce, which is raw material for food processing industries, increases leading to better prices to farmers including MSMEs and increasing farm gate profitability. The above scheme has significantly contributed at micro level (farmers and cold chain owners) by increasing income through better price realization, value addition and wastage reduction etc. across the country. (c) So far, no such proposal has been introduced by the MoFPI. The Ministry, however, keeps reviewing various policy interventions and schemes from time to time for the overall development of the food processing sector. *****