<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that India is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of agricultural produce. He said, the agriculture sector made a significant contribution to the economy at a time when other sectors were badly affected by the Covid pandemic. Mr Tomar was addressing the Agri Infra Fund Awards ceremony in New Delhi today. </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">He said, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) launched by the government under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, is scaling new milestones. AIF was brought to increase agricultural productivity, and agricultural exports and make the agriculture sector employable. The Minister said, in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, more than Rs 1,50,000 crore are being invested in agriculture and allied sectors.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Kailash Choudhary stressed on the role of Banks and Government agencies in empowering farmers and making the nation self-sufficient. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bold step by paving easy farm loans as he scrapped the need for collateral, saying the Government of India will stand guarantee.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund was launched two years ago, under the ambitious Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, as a dedicated Central Government scheme. It provides a medium-long term credit facility for investment in the creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"> </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">AIR Correspondent reports that as of now, out of 23,000 plus applications received on the integrated portal of Agri Infra Fund, 13,700 applicants have been sanctioned over Rs 10,000 crore. The sanctioned projects cover warehouses, assaying units, primary processing units, custom hiring centres, sorting and grading units, cold store and cold chain projects.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>