Bhubaneswar: The Odisha cooperation minister, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Thursday said that efforts are on to double the farmers income in the State through cooperative movements.
The minister was speaking after inaugurating the two day workshop on Doubling Farmers Income Through Cooperative Movements, organised jointly by Verghese Kurien Centre of Excellence(VKCE), Institute of Rural Management, Aanad, and the State Cooperation department, here on Thursday.
The minister said that 65% of the loans meant for farming and farmers are routed though the primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) in the State. The farmers are supplied with seeds, fertilzers, pesticide for harvesting good crop. For storage of their crop, storage godowns are being constucted in the State. Besides, he added, they are being provided crop insurance coverage and e-marketing platform for sale of their produces.
The State agriculture minister, Arun Sahu, said that farmers per capita income has become Rs 7,731 by 2015-16. He said that the State government has introduced Kalia Yojana to enhance the farmers income through direct financial assistance to poor farmers, share croppers and landless labourers. He said that the farmers income could be enhanced and doubled through cooperative movements.
Prof. Harekrushna Mishra of VKCE, director of Institute of Rural Management, Aanad, Prof. Hitesh Bhatta, regional director of International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific Balasubramanium Ayer, State cooperation secretary Vir Vikram Yadav, Odisha State Cooperative Bank chairman Akhya Kumar Mohanty and registrar of cooperative societies Bibhuti Bhusan Patnaik and managing director Debendra Kumar Jena also addressed the workshop.
