Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana — All Points in One Video | Current Affairs

Summary

Food Processing and Value Addition

Food processing transforms raw produce into products with greater value, a longer shelf life, or greater convenience. Examples include:

• Potatoes into chips
• Tomatoes into ketchup
• Ginger and garlic into paste
• Grapes into wine, barley into beer, and apples into cider

Processing can reduce post-harvest losses, preserve food, and increase the value farmers receive for their produce. Ethanol made from sugarcane is another example of how processing can add value to an agricultural crop.

PM Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)

SAMPADA is expanded in the lesson as Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters. The scheme began in 2016 and was renamed Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana in 2017. It is described as a Central Sector Scheme, funded by the central government and administered by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI).

PMKSY aims to develop food-processing infrastructure and supply chains, reduce post-harvest losses, increase food processing, improve farmer income, create rural employment, and support exports. The intended supply chain runs from the farmer’s gate to retail outlets.

The lesson describes PMKSY as an umbrella scheme with six active components. The Mega Food Park component has been discontinued, while the overall scheme continues.

Objectives and Support

The objectives discussed include:

• Creating modern food-processing infrastructure and an efficient supply chain
• Reducing wastage, particularly for perishable horticultural crops
• Increasing food-processing capacity and farmers’ income
• Generating rural employment and promoting exports
• Supporting entrepreneurs through credit-linked capital subsidies and grants-in-aid

The instructor explains the terms as follows:

• Credit-linked support is associated with a loan.
• A capital subsidy helps fund investment in equipment or other assets.
• A grant-in-aid does not have to be repaid.

A broad subsidy range of 35–75% is mentioned; the lesson does not specify a single rate for every component.

Components and Infrastructure

The six components listed in the lesson are:

1. Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure Includes facilities such as cold storage, refrigerated transport, ripening chambers, and irradiation units.

2. Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters (APCs) Clusters bring farmers and processors together and connect processed products to markets. The lesson divides infrastructure into:

   • Basic enabling infrastructure: roads, water, electricity, and drainage
   • Core infrastructure: warehouses, cold storage, grading, and packaging facilities

Intended benefits include lower transport and logistics costs, reduced wastage, local employment, and more balanced regional development. The instructor says APC guidelines were revised on 25 April 2025.

1. Creation or Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacity Supports the development or expansion of processing and preservation facilities.

2. Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure Includes testing and laboratory facilities to check that processed foods meet quality and safety standards.

3. Human Resources and Institutions Supports the people and institutions needed for food processing, food safety, and quality systems.

4. Operation Greens Initially associated with TOP—tomato, onion, and potato—the initiative is described as having expanded to cover 22 perishable commodities. Its purpose is to address supply and price instability.

Food Standards and Quality Bodies

The instructor distinguishes the following organizations and systems:

• FSSAI: India’s food-safety and food-standard authority
• Codex Alimentarius: An international food-safety and standards framework, described in the lesson as established in 1963 through the work of FAO and WHO
• NABL: Accredits testing and calibration laboratories
• BIS: Associated with standards for industrial goods
• AGMARK: A quality mark for agricultural products
• Hallmark: A mark of gold purity

The lesson also notes that consumer confidence in processed foods is important for building demand.

Exam-Oriented Food-Processing Concepts

The latter part of the session reviews practice questions and related concepts:

• Ripening: The process by which fruit develops desirable colour, flavour, and palatability.
• Curing: A post-harvest treatment for crops such as potatoes, onions, and sweet potatoes that allows minor wounds to heal.
• Refrigeration: Slows microbial growth, metabolism, and respiration, helping extend storage life.
• Blanching: A brief heat treatment used before processes such as freezing or canning, mainly to inactivate enzymes and help preserve product quality.
• Exhausting: Removing air and dissolved gases from filled cans before sealing.
• Dryers: Tray or cabinet dryers are used for vegetables; the lesson identifies spray drying as common for producing milk powder.
• Malting: Barley is allowed to germinate and then dried, converting starch into sugars used in brewing.
• Sugar in fruit preserves: The lesson gives a target range of about 65–75%, with roughly 70–72% presented as suitable. Too little may permit spoilage, while excessive sugar may crystallize.
• Calcium propionate (E282): Added to bread to inhibit mould and bacterial growth. The lesson gives a typical amount of 0.2–0.3% of flour weight.
• Food additives: Antioxidants and preservatives help prevent unwanted changes and extend shelf life.
• Fermentation: Grapes fermented with yeast produce ethanol and carbon dioxide. The lesson also associates barley with beer and sugarcane molasses with rum.
• Aflatoxin: The lesson links rainy conditions during groundnut harvest with a risk of contamination by Aspergillus flavus.
• Meat spoilage: The lesson identifies Pseudomonas as an important spoilage organism in meat stored under aerobic refrigerated conditions.
• Cold sterilization: Irradiation and high-pressure processing are presented as methods that can treat foods without conventional heat sterilization.
• Irradiation: The lesson gives 0.1 kGy to inhibit sprouting, 0.25 kGy for insect disinfestation, and 1–10 kGy for microbial reduction.
• Asepsis: Keeping a product or environment free from microorganisms.
• Salt preservation: A high salt concentration draws water out of microbial cells, causing them to shrink and die or become inhibited. This process is called plasmolysis.
• Organic farming standards: The lesson names IFOAM as an internationally recognized body associated with organic agriculture.
• “Superfoods”: Described as nutrient-rich foods. Examples include blueberries, quinoa, kale, chia seeds, salmon, and turmeric.

The instructor says the accompanying study material includes 23 questions drawn from exams and 40 additional practice questions, along with bilingual notes on food processing and food-safety topics. The session also includes a brief promotion for agriculture exam-preparation books and contact support.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Speaker: One unnamed instructor/host from Agri Coaching Chandigarh; no guest speakers appear in the subtitles.
• Exam sources named by the instructor: Maharashtra state exams, Bihar BHO and BAO exams, IBPS AFO, and RRB SO. The instructor also refers generally to questions from other state and central-level exams.
• Organizations and standards discussed: MoFPI, FSSAI, FAO, WHO, Codex Alimentarius, NABL, BIS, AGMARK, Hallmark, and IFOAM.