Addressing the 80th General Council meeting of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) in Delhi on Wednesday, Union Minister of Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh said it is playing a crucial role in doubling the income of farmers.
NCDC has been making an important contribution in doubling the income of farmers, Singh wrote on twitter later. The corporation has disbursed loans of Rs. 7 thousand crore during 2015-16 and various schemes started by NCDC have been benefitting farmers, artisans, weavers and tribal, he asserted.
This was first meeting of reconstituted General Council of NCDC. Twenty two new members have been nominated in the General Council of NCDC including the Sahakar Bharati President Jyotindra Mehta. The main agenda of the meeting was to peruse and ratify annual report and annual accounts of NCDC for the year 2015-16.
Agriculture Minister stated that there is a huge network of cooperatives in the country, which is the largest in the world. About seven lakh cooperatives are in existence here. 98% villages are covered by these cooperatives and farmers have easy access to them.
PACS and District Cooperative Bank can play important role starting from pre-harvest programmes like selection of crops & purchase of seeds, right up to harvesting of crops and marketing of produce etc, Singh added.
Agriculture Minister informed that NCDC promotes cooperative development in the country by providing financial assistance to Cooperatives in agriculture & non agriculture, industrial and service sectors.
NCDC’s scheme have been formulated keeping in view increase in income & improvement in livelihood of economically weaker sections like farmers, artisans, weavers, poor agricultural masses, women and tribals etc.
Shri Singh said that NCDC has disbursed more than Rs.7000 crore during the year 2015-16, which is 24.10% higher than that during the preceding year.
Further, during current financial year 2016-17, the Corporation has sanctioned financial assistance of Rs.10162 crore up-to 30th November 2016. NCDC’s target for the year 2016-17 is Rs.6000 crore, which was to be achieved by March 2017. Agriculture Minister congratulated officers and staff of the Corporation on becoming an ISO 9001:2015 certified organization.
Singh appealed to the members present there on the occasion to spread information pertaining to NCDC’s schemes, among Cooperatives in their areas, so that they can avail maximum assistance from NCDC. Shobhana K Pattanayak, Secretary (Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers welfare) was also present in the meeting.
