Saturday, November 9, 2013

Awareness on Development of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure scheme

NAMCHI, 08 Nov: NABCON, a subsidiary of NABARD conducted a two-day District Level Awareness Programme on the Scheme for Development/Strengthening Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization on 07-08 November at Hotel Mercury, Bhanjyang Road, Namchi, South Sikkim.
The programme on 07 November was held for farmers and for entrepreneurs on 08 November. The participants included Managers of MPCS (Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies) of South Sikkim, members of Panchayati Raj Institutions and some bankers of Namchi.
Deputy General Manager, NABARD, Gangtok, PK Jha inaugurated the programme and briefed the participants on both the days about the scheme and apprised the house that government officials can play a very important role in popularizing the Scheme for Development/ Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization so that farmers/entrepreneurs can come forward to take the benefit of credit linked back ended subsidy.
Further, he also emphasized the importance of cleaning and grading for getting better prices for agricultural/ horticultural commodities and that the farmers could also create storage along with the cleaning and grading. Mr Jha informed that this scheme is reforms-linked and Sikkim has amended the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee [APMC] Act and as such, all benefits can be taken under the scheme.
While DDM, NABARD, Namchi, JC Biswas made a detailed presentation on both the days on the various aspects of the scheme and its relevance in increasing the income of farmers/entrepreneurs. They were informed that assistance under the scheme is available to individuals, groups of farmers, growers, SHGs, Cooperative Marketing Federations etc.
Under the scheme subsidy at 33.33% of the capital cost of the project subject to upper ceiling of Rs. 60 lakh is available for NE states. Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI), Ministry of Agriculture, GOI is the nodal agency to operate the scheme. NABARD will be administering the subsidy and monitoring the progress of the scheme. The participants were very happy on knowing about this scheme and assured to popularize it so that maximum farmers/entrepreneurs could take benefit of it.

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