Chief Minister Hemant Soren today said that forest produce based products can be made an important source of livelihood by value addition in remote rural areas of the State. Emphasize on providing fair price to the villagers for the products produced and stored by them. Sido-Kanhu Agriculture and Forest Produce State Cooperative Union Limited Production, collection, processing and distribution of agricultural and forest produce such as paddy, wheat, vegetables, fruits, tamarind, surguja, chironji, sal, amla, lac, mahua, karanj, silk and others in the state. Prepare an effective system of marketing for buying and selling. The CM said that a database should be prepared of which forest produce trees are there on private and forest land, and by which group the products of those trees are being used. He was directing the officials in the second meeting of the Board of Directors of Sido-Kanhu Agriculture and Forest Produce State Cooperative Union Ltd., Ranchi, held at the Ministry of Jharkhand on Thursday.
In the meeting, officials of the Sido-Kanho Agriculture and Forest Produce State Cooperative Union Ltd informed that lac processing is being encouraged in 12 districts of the state. Along with this, medicinal plants like Chiraita, Jamun, Ashwagandha, Amla etc are being promoted in the State. In the first phase, forest produce and agricultural produce hubs are being constructed in Ranchi, Gumla and Dumka districts, under which action for collection and processing will be taken.
In the meeting, Soren was informed by the officials that quality training is being imparted to the rural people at the level of lamps/packs. By the end of this year, there is a target of increasing the capacity of 30 thousand people in the state, which will be accomplished. Efforts are being made to increase the number of A grade lamps/packs in the state.
Sido-Kanhu Agriculture and Forest Produce State Cooperative Union Ltd is continuously organizing meetings with the District Union and the works are being given a concrete shape. State level workshop is also being organized along with the survey. Approval was also given for the selected logo of Sido-Kanhu Agriculture and Forest Produce State Cooperative Union Ltd. in the meeting.
In the meeting Agriculture Minister Badal, Additional Chief Secretary L.Khyangte, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Vandana Dadel, Principal Secretary Finance Department Ajay Kumar Singh, Secretary to Chief Minister Vinay Kumar Choubey, Agriculture Secretary Abu Bakar Siddiqui, K.Srinivasan, Secretary, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Minority and Backward Classes Welfare Department, Sanjeev Kumar, CEO of Sidho-Kanho Agriculture and Forest Produce State Cooperative Union Ltd, Secretary Jaiprakash Sharma and JHASCOLAMP, Jhamkofed and Vegfed and other concerned officials were present.