In his key note address on the occasion of the Foundation Day of Vamnicom, Satish Marathe, Director, Central Board, Reserve Bank of India said the time has come for cooperatives to lay focus on agri-business, in general, and food processing, in particular.
“There is a need to increase cooperative enterprises and food processing industries. VAMNICOM should collaborate with other Agricultural Universities in the country to assess the need of training in agri-business entrepreneurship covering the agricultural cooperative sector.
The agriculture sector is moving forward through the govt’s agenda of doubling farmers’ income, even while the legal provisions of cooperatives have yet to evolve and get themselves attuned to the time, Marathe underlined at the function.
More than 10,000 FPOs are in existence, but only 3,000 FPOs are working effectively and the beneficiaries count a puny 8 lakh in a vast country like India, where agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, lamented Marathe.
Need-based training is also the need of the hour. VAMNICOM should emerge as an autonomous apex training institute on cooperative and agri-business and get worldwide recognition, Marathe said raising the bar for Vamnicom.