Agriclinics & Agribusiness Centres (AC&ABC)

The cause of this post arises from the inquiries on Agriclinics & Agribusiness centers (AC&ABC) Scheme.The contents of the post are previously posted by me in Orkut communities.Persistent inquires from the broad community qualified agricultural professionals into this made me to publish this post with the info down here.

Agriclinics & Agribusiness centres (AC&ABC)
The Scheme is jointly sponsored by NABARD, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt of India, SFAC(Small farmers Agribusiness consortium) and MANAGE(National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management)
Objectives of the scheme
To provide extension and other services to farmers on payment basis:
To support agriculture development and entrepreneurship:
To promote self-employment for graduates and allied seiences
Concept/Definition
Agri-Clinics are envisaged to provide expert advice and services to farmers on technology, cropping practices, protection from pests and diseases, market trends, prices of various crops in the markets and also clinical services for animal health, etc. which would enhance productivity of crops/animals and increased income to farmers.
Agri- Business centers are envisaged to provide farm equipments on hire, sale of inputs and other services.
Eligibility
The scheme is open to agriculture graduates /graduates in subjects allied to agriculture like horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry, Dairy, Veterinary, Poultry farming and fisheries.
Features of the scheme
The ceiling of project cost for individual projects will be Rs. 10.00 lakhs. The ceiling of project cost for group projects would be 10.00 lakhs per trained graduates, subject to an overall ceiling of Rs. 50.00 lakhs. In case of groups having five persons, of which one is non-agriculture graduate (management professionals, normally MBAs considered), the ceiling of such group projects would also be Rs.50.00 lakhs.In the case of loans up to Rs. 5.00 Lakhs, no margin money is required as per present norms. However, loans above this limit, the margin money to be contributed by the entrepreneur will be as per the prevailing norms. Credit linked capital subsidy @ 25% of the capital cost of the project funded through bank loan would be eligible. This subsidy would be 33.33% in respect of candidates belonging to SC, ST, Women and other disadvantaged sections and those from North-Eastern and Hill States.

In addition, full interest subsidy would be eligible for the first two years of the project.Delivery of Extension services shall be the main component of ACABC projects for availing of the benefit of subsidy under the scheme. Commercial activities in agriculture and allied sectors may, on a case-by-case basis, considered as eligible component of ACABC projects with a view to improve their viability

Projects under the scheme may be treated as priority sector, direct financing to agriculture. Interest would be chargeable on borrower’s accounts as per procedure laid down by RBI for direct agricultural advances under priority sector guidelines.

States are encouraged to provide information on all government policies, programs, schemes, etc. to agriprenurs(trained graduates on Agriculture and allied sciences) and also use their services in implementation of extension activities funded by the Government.

Resources:
http://www.agriclinics.net/
http://www.manage.gov.in/