The 38th Foundation day of NABARD was celebrated with great fervor here on Friday. Governor of Madhya Pradesh Anandi Ben Patel was Chief Guest of the occasion, while Sachin Subhash Yadav, Cabinet Minister, Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development, MP Government was present as a special guest.
Besides, Vivek Agrawal, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India and General Manager from State Bank of India and other senior officials from state government, Banks and line departments were present during the function.
The main attraction of the celebration was the presence of more than 500 Farmers' Producers Organizations (FPOs) and Women Self-Help Groups (W-SHGs) from different districts of the State. NABARD has been pioneer in the promotion of Self-help Group -Bank Linkage Programme and Farmers' Producters Organization programme and both these groups have accelerated development in their respective fields.
On this occasion, SK Bansal, Chief General Manager, Madhya Pradesh Regional Office Bhopal, welcomed all the guests and remarked that Farmers' Producers Organizations are playing a vital role in rural and agricultural development of the country.
He deliberated that farmers in the country have 2-3 major concerns - getting the right price for their produce, sudden losses which they suffer due to fluctuation of prices in the market and availability of good quality seeds and fertilizers at the right price. The solution to these problems is to bring aggregate production of small farmers at one place and make collective efforts towards their marketing.
At the same time, these farmers have to be provided with necessary agricultural inputs ie seeds, fertilizers etc at the correct price. For this, NABARD has propagated the concept of Farmers' Producers Organizations. NABARD has formed 361 Farmers' Producers Organizations in the State of Madhya Pradesh and is also aiming to connect 3.6 lakh farmers with these organizations in the next three years.
He added that NABARD has provided a loan of Rs 23,539.68 crore to the State Government till March 31, 2019 for basic infrastructural facilities such as roads, irrigation, drinking water projects, bridges etc. in the rural areas. Wadi project is another important project of NABARD, which has done
remarkable work in the tribal areas of the State. Under this project, more than 67,000 tribal families have been benefited under grant support from NABARD.
SK Bansal, Chief General Manager, NABARD also emphasized that NABARD, together with its various stakeholders such as State Government, Financial Institutions, NGOs, Farmers Club, Self Help Groups and Agricultural Producing Organizations, played an important role in the development of the State Madhya Pradesh. He informed that in the year 2019-20, NABARD plans to provide financial assistance of 25-30 thousand crores to the State Government, which is 15-20% metre than the previous year.