A three-day workshop on ‘Enabling Village Level Organisation through Technological Intervention in Production and Value Addition of Natural Resins and Gums’ was held from July 30 to August 1 at ICAR-Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums (IINRG), Ranchi. The event was sponsored by Chaudhary Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (CCS NIAM) Jaipur, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
The Chief Guest for the occasion was AK Padhi, Chief General Manager (CGM), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Jharkhand.
In the seminar, Padhi emphasised on diversified agricultural techniques including agriculture, animal husbandry and allied activities for doubling the farm income. “The concept of Primary Agricultural Coorporative Society (PACS) is successful in Punjab, Haryana, western parts of Uttar Pradesh and in southern states but it is not so successful in the eastern part of the country. To overcome critical gaps Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) models have been introduced which may play a vital role,” said Padhi.
Padhi also suggested strengthening FPOs in lac processing since Jharkhand is the largest producer of Lac (More than 50 per cent) but processes less that 30 per cent of it. About 4,000 FPOs have already been registered while another 6,000 are targeted in the future.
KK Sharma Director ICAR-IINRG, addressing the session said that NABARD plays a fundamental role in the development of Village Level Organisations (VLOs). “Linking of FPOs with e- NAM can prevent farmers from the middlemen, thereby giving them a better price for their produce. This is a good platform to discuss new policy environment issues involving producers, scientific and marketing experts to promote technological interventions,” Sharma said.
Dr Nirmal Kumar, Head, Transfer of Technology Division, ICAR-IINRG appreciated the efforts of the VLOs including FPOs, Farmer Producer Company (FPC), Self Help Group (SHG), Primary Cooperative Societies (PCSs) and NGO and said that FPOs play a big role in reducing the production cost as well as enhance the bargaining power of the producer.
A training manual titled ‘Enabling Village Level Organisations through Technological Interventions in Production and Value Addition of Natural Resins and Gums’ was released while 27 participants were awarded certificates.
The workshop was attended by chief executive officer, chairpersons and secretaries from FPOs and VLOs. Officials from State Agricultural University and NGOs from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha were present.