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| Zargar releases ‘The State Focus Paper’ | | Over Rs.10,000 cr. projected by NABARD for farm and non farm sectors | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Feb 22
“Out of Rs. 1931 crore, credit plan 2008-2009, projected by NABARD for the State, Rs. 471 crore would be available for agriculture and Rs. 538 crore for Non Agriculture Sectors” said Minister for Cooperatives and Agriculture, Mr. Abdul Aziz Zargar after releasing “ The State Focus Paper 2008-2009” at “State Credit Seminar-2008-2009, organized by NABARD here today.
Among others, Chairman, SCB, Mr. Abdul Huq Khan, Registrar Cooperatives, Dr. G.N.Qasba, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Mr. A.K.Mathur, Director Indian System of Medicines, Dr. Abdul Kabir, senior managers of NABARD and other banks were present on the occasion.
. Zargar said that government was contemplating to accord core sector status to agriculture. He said NABARD has played a vital role in reconstruction programme of the state, adding that efforts to increase agriculture production in the state were being supplemented by the bank through credit facility. He said apart from agriculture and horticulture sectors our state has vast potential in floriculture and power sectors, which if exploited in full could not only improve the economy of the state, but generate ample employment avenues for unemployed youth. He said agriculture production depends on the timely credit facilities to the farmers to enable them to fetch fertilizers, seeds and other agriculture inputs at the time of need. He said financial institutions, particularly, cooperative banks should be liberal in lending loans to the farmers, which can pave the way for increasing their production.
Mr. Zargar said that state, particularly Kashmir Valley, has reeled under abnormal situation for past more than fifteen years which affected the agriculture sector badly. He said NABARD emerged as one of major agencies in reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure of the state. The Minister emphasized upon the management of NABARD to give priority to farming sector rather to non farming sector. He said our cooperatives must have a strong institutional capacity, adding that the bottlenecks causing the slow growth need to be removed to ensure perceptible increase in economic growth.
While releasing the book the ministers appreciated the efforts of NABARD and said that book containing valuable information covering core sectors of agriculture and rural development of the state. He hoped the book would prove beneficial for development of cooperative sector. He said that seminar would give a chance to the functionaries of cooperative, agriculture, NABARD and other allied agencies to exchange their ideas besides sharing their experiences.
Highlighting the achievements of NABARD, Chief General Manager, Mr. Mathur said that sector expenditure on agriculture has come down over last 15 years affecting productivity in agriculture. He said there was low investment in rural infrastructure being addressed through RIDF by government and NABARD. He asserted that NABARD has ensured quality lending to rural sector with emphasis on exploitation of resources. He said state has immense potential to be exploited and the trend to increase in the C.D.Ratio was just a point. Mr. Mathur said that the concept of Self Help Groups (SHGs) has emerged as a major strategy for poverty alleviation and women empowerment, adding that presently in J&K 2800 SHGs were working benefiting 60 thousand families.
Dr. Qasba said that several measures have been initiated to improve the cooperative sector, adding that implementation of Vaidaynathan Committee Report in the state would change the economy of the farmers. He said cooperative banks were playing a vital role in providing financial assistance to small and marginal farmers, adding that the role of NABARD could not be over looked. He underlined the need to work in close coordination of various agencies to make the cooperative movement strong and successful. Dr. Qasba said the areas like poultry and dairy have vast business potential in the state and asked the unemployed youth to set units in these sector.
Other bank functionaries also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the achievements, role and programmes of NABARD and Cooperative institutions.
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