The Voluntary Association for People Service (VAPS), with the support of the National Institue of Agricultural Extension Management ( MANAGE), Hyderabad, and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), is offering training for unemployed farm sector graduates to set up agri-clinics and agri-business centres in rural areas of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Already 219 VAPS-trained agripreneurs have set up such centres to assist the ushering in of a soil-freindly and eco-friendly green revolution.
The programme, initiated by the Union agriculture ministry, aims to develop a large pool of professionally qualified graduates of agriculture, and veterinary and animal sciences and to empower them to provide quality extension service to the farmers. They would alao supplement the existing extension network to accelerate the process of technology transfer ?from lab to farms?.
VAPS offers 60-day residential training programme for agriculture and allied sciences graduates from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands at Madurai and Salem in agri-business aspects, market survey and bankable project preparation. According to S A Arul, Nodal officer VAPS, ??these centres have so far trained 483 graduates. Of them, 219 have set up their own agri-clinics and agri-business centres??. He said 70 units were set up with bank loans and others with own funds.
Trained graduates can avail loans ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, Rs 50 lakh for groups, from nationalised and co-operative rural banks. Credit-linked capital subsidy at 25% of the capital cost loan would be eligible for general category and 33.3% for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes and other notified disadvantaged sections and women candidates. For the first two years there would be full interest subsidy funded by Nabard. The repayment period varies between 5 and 10 years.
Nabarad is also organising workshops at district level to create awareness and sensitisation among bankers and other stakeholders about agri-clinics and agri-business centres scheme.
The training programme offers courses in entrepreneurial development, values and motivation, entrepreneurial management, enterprise planning and resourcing, entrepreneurial planning – agripreneur specific – including exposure visits and market survey, placement for hands-on-experience and preparation and submissin of detailed project report.
Arul said the agri-clinic and agri-business training centre of VAPS, Madurai, is extending handholding support to agripreneurs for one year to obtain bank loans and set up agri-clinics.