The Bihar cabinet on Saturday approved Rs 800 crore loan to the cooperative banks in the state for procurement of paddy.Indiancooperative.com has reported earlier that the state government has decided a big role for Primary Agriculture Cooperative societies in the state.

“Every PAC will have the storage capacity of 200 tonnes of foodgrains and we have started work on 2200 PACs at present,”  deputy CM Sushil Modi had said..

Deputy Chief Minister S K Modi wants to follow the existing system of procurement of paddy and Public Distribution System in Chhattisgarh and said his government too has decided to implement similar system in the state.

He said the state government had planned to equip 8500 PACs with computers and link them with headquarters which would ensure early survey of crops of farmers for purchase of foodgrains during the Kharif season.

PACs whould set up a data base of the paddy crop being cultivated by the individual farmers and allot them an identification number so that they could be contacted directly for procurement of paddy.

PACs have been directed to make an assessment of the expenditure to be incurred by it for procurement of paddy during this season so that adequate funds be made available to it through the cooperative banks.

Modi directed the officials to ensure payment to the farmers through account payee cheques for paddy procurement.

Readers may recall that state government superseded the board of  14 district cooperative banks and board of about 300 Vyapar mandals across the state.

The loan will be given to the cooperative banks from the state contingency fund for which necessary amendment will be made in the contingency provisions.

At the 71st General Council meeting of the National Cooperative Development on 6th April, 2011 Shri Sharad Pawar,Union Minister  commended the NCDC for releasing financial assistance to the tune of Rs.4703 crore thus making highest ever disbursement.

Besides, a record amount of Rs.6292 crore was also sanctioned.  During the meeting, Programme of Activities of NCDC for the year 2011-12 involving a financial outlay of Rs.4000 crore was approved.  It was noted that the recovery rate of loans provided by NCDC continues to remain high at 99.7%.

Pawar said  that agriculture is expected to grow at 5.4 per cent in 2010-11, and early estimates indicate bright prospects of foodgrains production at 232 million M.T.  This achievement is in spite of erratic climatic factors and global financial crisis.

Priority will be given to programmes aimed at benefiting weaker sections and remote regions.  Integrated Cooperative Development Projects and projects in new thematic areas.  Due emphasis will be given for assisting small cutting–edge projects in larger numbers, added Pawar

Fertiliser production need to be enhanced to 35 million tonne per annum from the current level of 21 million tonne to boost farm production, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in New Delhi.

“It is estimated that country will require about 45 million tonne of nutrients to produce about 300 million tonne of foodgrains by 2025 to feed its growing population,” Pawar said while addressing a kharif conference in New Delhi.

Pawar said since 8-10 million tonne of nutrients can be supplied through organic sources, the rest has to come from chemical fertilisers.

“This implies that domestic supplies of fertilisers have to be increased substantially from the present level of 21 million tonne to about 35 million tonne per annum to bridge the nutrient gap,” he added.

In 2010-11, the country’s foodgrain production is estimated at 235.88 million tonne, according to the third revised estimate by the Agriculture Ministry.

Highlighting the importance of fertilisers in raising crop production, Pawar said “about 50 per cent increase in agricultural production in post green revolution era is attributed to use of fertilisers alone”.

The minister also emphasised on the need to augment the supply of organic nutrient sources for supplementation of chemical fertilisers.

The country had imported 16.17 million tonne of fertilisers in April-November in the last fiscal, almost equal to the total import of 16.38 million tonne of farm nutrients in the entire 2009-10.

India meets 85 per cent of its urea requirement through indigenous production, but is largely dependent on import for meeting the phosphorus and potassium requirements either as finished fertilisers or raw materials.

Country’s largest producer of fertilizer is Iffco which is a multi state cooperative society with about 40 thousand societies under its umbrella. Attempt to contact the Managing Director of IFFCO Mr US Awasthi on Pawar’s suggestion failed as he was out of station.