The financing agency, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has assisted farm co-operatives for different agro products to the extent of Rs 3,170 crore in 2005-06, an increase of 100% over the assistance rendered in the previous year. NCDC disbursed about 39% of the total assistance to the states where cooperatives are not fully developed. While the ago-processing sector was receiving over 40% of NCDC?s assistance, marketing and input activities accounted for 34%. Weaker-section cooperatives accounted for 24% of the assistance provided by the corporation.
Union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, presiding over the NCDC general council meeting on Tuesday, emphasised that cooperatives must take advantage of the vast growth opportunities in services sectors such as education, health care, transport and tourism. He asked the premier cooperatives organisation, NCDC, to diversify and expand its activities so that cooperatives are able to take advantage of growth in these sectors.
Lauding the role of cooperatives in delivery of credit, especially to farmers, the minister said that the government was implementing a Rs 13,000 crore package to revitalise the cooperative credit system. The NCDC general council meeting was attended by the Union minister of state for agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria, agriculture secretary, PK Mishra and representatives from financial institutions, government departments and the cooperative sector.