Interacting with participants of the Viksit Bharat Yatra program through video conferencing, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi touched upon a host of issues including how a resurgent co-op movement is changing the landscape of rural economy.
Modi said a big campaign is going on in the entire country these days to organize small farmers. PACS and other cooperative ventures are being strengthened in villages. Since most of the farmers have very little land with 80-85 percent of them having only one acre or two acres, organizing them into farmer producers’ associations is going on at a great pace.
Modi said it is our endeavor to help cooperation emerge as a strong aspect of rural life in India. Till now we have seen the benefits of cooperation in the milk and sugarcane sectors. Now it is being expanded to other areas of farming and sectors like fish production also. We are moving ahead with the target of creating new PACS in 2 lakh villages in the coming time. Where there are no dairy related cooperatives, these will be expanded. So that our cattle farmers can get better prices for milk.
“Another problem in our villages has been the lack of storage facilities. Due to this, small farmers are forced to sell their produce hurriedly. Due to this, many times they are not able to get a fair price for their produce”, said the PM.
To free small farmers from this compulsion, a huge storage capacity is being created across the country. Millions and millions of storages have to be built. Its responsibility is also being given to farmers’ cooperative institutions like PACS, he underlined.
Modi said that efforts are also being made to strengthen more than 2 lakh micro industries in the food processing sector. You all will also be familiar with the One District, One Product campaign. Its aim is that we make efforts to take at least one famous product from every
district to international markets. This can play a huge role in making every district economically self-reliant.
He also said the government has launched a huge new campaign to promote technology in agriculture and further empower sisters, daughters and sisters through self-help groups. And he referred to Namo Drone Didi in this context. Some people also call it Namo Didi, he said adding this Namo Drone Didi scheme has been started.
Under this, 15 thousand drones will be provided to Didis associated with self-help groups in the first round.
Women will have drones in their hands, now no one will care about the tractor, he stressed.
“Training of NaMo Drone Didis has also been started. Due to this campaign, the income of self-help groups will increase, village sisters will get a new confidence and it will also help our farmers.
It will modernize farming, make it scientific and the wastage that happens will go away, there will also be savings’, said Modi.
It bears recall in this context that co-op giants IFFCO and Kribhco are also playing an important role in achieving the PM’s vision. While IFFCO has massively invested in Drones and in the training of women pilots, Kribhco drones are being employed extensively in various villages of Haryana.
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