India, Dec. 9 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
The Government has launched several initiatives to address the challenges faced by small and marginal farmers, including issues of inadequate storage facilities, limited market access for perishable products, and to strengthen cooperative dairies across the country including Bihar.
The "World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector", which was approved on 31.05.2023 has been rolled out as a Pilot Project, entails creation of various agri infrastructure at PACS level, including godowns, custom hiring centers, processing units, Fair Price Shops, cold storage, etc. through convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM), Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), etc.
These interventions aim to directly benefit small and marginal farmers by reducing post-harvest losses, enhancing storage capacity, and enabling better price realization. PACS are being developed as multipurpose service centres to provide market linkages and value-addition support, which can also benefit horticulture crops such as litchi.
Additionally, under State Government Scheme of Bihar over 7,221 godowns with storage capacity of 17.14 LMT have also been constructed.
Further, under the MIDH scheme, which has been converged with World's Largest Grain Storage Plan, assistance is provided for the creation of cold storage, ripening chambers, and processing units for horticultural crops such as litchi across the country including Bihar. This scheme helps farmers reduce post-harvest losses, improve shelf life, and access remunerative markets. Apart from this, under PMFME scheme Litchi is included under the One District One Product (ODOP) approach under which support is provided for the formalization of micro-enterprises involved in processing of various products including litchi, helping them with technology, procurement, and marketing.
To strengthen dairy cooperatives, the Government has approved the plan to establish new multipurpose PACS/dairy/fisheries cooperatives, aiming to cover all panchayats and villages in the country over the next five years. As per the National Cooperative Database, a total of 4,460 new Primary Dairy Cooperative Societies have been registered; and 834 Dairy Cooperative Societies have been strengthened in the State of Bihar since the approval of the plan on 15.2.2023.
Apart from the above, a total of 12,112 Dairy Cooperative Societies have been registered by Bihar State Cooperative Milk Federation in the State so far.
Further, the Government is implementing a national-level initiative, "White Revolution 2.0" through the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to enhance milk procurement, processing, and distribution infrastructure. These interventions aim to increase farmers' income, improve rural employment, and promote sustainable cooperative-based economic growth in all States/ UTs including the State of Bihar.
This information was given by Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Shri Amit Shah in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
