Marathe sees huge potential for co-op growth in Odisha

Participating in a debate on boosting Income & Rural Growth by expanding and harnessing Co-operatives in Bhubaneshwar, senior leader of Sahakar Bharti Satish Marathe said that Odisha has huge potential for cooperative growth.

Giving details Marathe said “The State has about 51300 Villages with just 2700 PACs. It has only 17 DCCBs as against 30 Districts. The number of Milk CoOps & Fisheries’ CoOps is not commensurate with its potential.

A thorough professional who is also on the Central Board of the RBI Marathe said “Of 4.37crs, 83% population is rural, yet Kisan Credit Cards have been issued to just over 1.70 crs of eligible farmers, fishermen, artisans, etc.”

“As a consequence, the flow of Credit, necessary for increasing economic activity, has not been rapid enough over the years”, he lamented.

The event was the 2nd Anniversary of Argus TV which organized a Conclave on – “Agri Vikas 2023 through Co-operatives”. The first day of the Conclave was inaugurated by Kailash Chaudhary, MOS, Ministry of Agri & Farmer Welfare.

Dr Ashok Dalwai, former IAS and the author of the Report on Doubling of Farmers’ Income also addressed the Conclave which was largely attended by farmers and intellectuals.

Meanwhile, Odisha’s Cooperation Department has decided to provide agricultural production inputs like certified seeds, fertilizers, etc through a network of 2,710 Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and Large Size Adivasi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPCS) in the state, media reports say.

A three-tier cooperative credit structure functions in Odisha with 2,710 PACS/LAMPCS at the gram panchayat level, 17 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) at the district level, and the Odisha State Cooperative Bank Ltd (OSCB) at the state level.

During the 2022 Kharif season, crop loan to the extent of Rs 8,710.78 crore has been disbursed to 18.02 lakh farmers. During the 2022-23 Rabi season, crop loan to the tune of Rs 7,972.79 crore has been disbursed to 16.55 lakh farmers.

It bears recall that former MD of NAFED Sanjeev Kumar Chadha has taken over as Principal Secretary Cooperation in the state administration. Given his vast experience in the co-op sector, it is expected that the state co-op movement will get a push.

Soon after his joining Chadha launched a 15-day campaign “Touch the PACS” with an aim to top state officials acquainting themselves with the functioning of PACS and LAMPS. The visit involves PACS as well as Large Size Adivasi Multi- Purpose Cooperative Societies functioning at the last tier of the Short-Term Credit Cooperative Structure (STCCS) giving short term loans.