Jharkhand has taken the first step in establishing a strong brand for agriculture and forest products with the formation of Sido-Kanho Agriculture and Forest Produce Federation. The federation will help market and process forest products and ensure that rural farmers become self-reliant.
“This is the first such initiative in the state to make a strong brand for agriculture and minor forest produce. The basic purpose is to integrate the cooperative sector with agriculture and forest products and add value to the products of rural farmers and help in promoting it on a national and international platform,” said the registrar of cooperative societies, Jharkhand, Mrityunjay Kumar Baranwal.
Sources in the chief minister’s secretariat said senior forest officer Sanjeev Kumar had been appointed as the chief executive officer of the federation while deputy registrar of cooperative societies, Jaiprakash Sharma, has been made additional officer. Chief minister Hemant Soren will be the chairperson.
“A private agency comprising experts M/s Better World Foundation has been made project monitoring unit (PMU) for the federation. They will be making plans in capacity building of cooperative societies of rural farmers, linking their marketing with IT-enabled services (ITeS) and also plan for marketing and storage of forest and agriculture products at district and state levels,” the sources said.
“The concept of the union has been set in motion under the directive of chief minister Hemant Soren and named after tribal martyrs Sido and Kanho. The objective is to bring all the farmers and forest produce collectors under one umbrella and ensure the strengthening of the rural economy,” said Sharma.
Jharkhand boasts of an abundance of lac, tassar, honey, tamarind, chironji, sal seed and mahua. “Even then, the farmers of the state are not able to get fair prices for their produce and have to sell them at throwaway prices to middlemen. The formation of the union is a step to ensure economic prosperity and self-reliance for the farmers,” said Sharma.
The process of modernising all the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and Large Area Multi-Purpose Society (LAMPS) has been initiated with the target of providing a fair price and market for forest produce.
“Workshops will be organised in all district headquarters for the promotion of livelihood-related agriculture and forest produce through cooperatives. Already a workshop was done in Ranchi on February 17.
Soon after the workshops, membership drives will commence connecting all the PACS/ LAMPS. The government also plans to provide training facilities to the members of LAMPS/PACS across the state for their agriculture-related pursuits and produce,” said an official.
