- Krushi Odisha 2020 at Janta Maidan, Bhubaneswar
- Panchayati Raj Representatives’ Day at Krushi Odisha on Wednesday
- Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena attended the session
- Every block to organise independent meetings on farmers said minister Pratap Jena
- More than 500 bank executives participated in the Bankers Meeting in the morning
Farmers are our pride. Hence, the state government has a priority of empowering the farmers. The government has implemented various schemes for the farmers. It is sad that there is a lack of awareness among the farmers regarding the same. So the responsibility of spreading awareness on the schemes concerning farmers lies on Panchayati Raj representatives, said PR&DW,HUD and Law Minister Pratap Jena.
Wednesday was the third day of Krushi Odisha underway at Janta Maidan, Bhubaneswar. Today was Panchayati Raj People’s Representative Day. PR&DW,HUD and Law Minister Pratap Jena was the Chief Guest on the ocassion . The five day flagship programme is being held under the aeges of Dept. of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Govt. of Odisha in collaboration with FICCI.
“Every village today consists of Women Self Help Groups (SHGs). These SHGs have been included in the Producers’ Organisation by the Panchayati Raj Dept. The produce of thes said organization goes to the market by the department’s intervention. ORMAS helps in the sale of said products”, says Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minster Pratap Jena.
Sri Jena also informed the huge gathering of farmers and FPOs that there will be independent meetings regarding farmer issues in each block of the state. The members of all concerned line departments representing farmers will be present at such meeting and will take necessary measures to mitigate all problems resulting on the field or raised at such meetings.”
“The state government has always worked for the farmer class with special focus on irrigation facilities. High capacity dams have been constructed to ensure supply of water for irrigation. The government has also laid stress on borewells. In the last five years, more than 70 thousand borewells have been constructed with an aim of setting up more than one lakh borewells in the next five years. We are further working on improving profitability of the farmers. Krush Odisha will be immensely helpful, said Development Commissioner –cum- Additional Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.
Successful farmers were felicitated on the occasion. Among other dignitaries on the dias were, Dr. Arun Kumar Sahu, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Higher Education, APICOL Chairman Sri Pravat Aditya Mishra, Chairman, Odisha State Cashew Development Corporation Development Sri Amarendra Das, Development Commissioner–cum-Additional Chief Secretary Sri Suresh Chandra Mahapatra participated in the function. Director of Agriculture and Food Production, Odisha, Dr. M. Muthukumar delivered the welcome address while the vote of thanks was proposed by M. Thirumala Naik, Director, Fisheries and ARD Dept.
The 3rd day of Krushi Odisha started with the Bankers Meeting which was organized with the participation of around 500 bank managers and workers in the first session.
“It is impossible to think about upliftment of agriculture and farmers without the help and assistance of banking and financial institutions. The support of banks is vital for development of farmers in the state”, says, Dr. Arun Kumar Sahu, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Higher Education.
Dr. Arun Kumar Sahu, further said, “The national level banks are laid back in providing loans to farmers of our state. Banks of our state provide less numbers of loan as compared to that of the other states in the country. Banks in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal provide finances to 90 percent of the farmers. We need to increase the percentage of loan in order to promote the development of farmers in the state.”
Sonali Das, General Manager, Reserve Bank, Bhubaneswar, attending the event remarked, “RBI is always thinking of measures for the development of agriculture sector in Odisha. The state government has also eliminated various issues in terms of providing loan to the farmers. Thus, the banks must now have the intention to readily give loan to the farmers”.
Sanjay Kumar, Conveyor, State Level Bankers Committee, opined “All the banks in the state are concerned about the development of the farmers in the state. Banks are also providing agricultural loan to the farmers. Likewise, if the state government provides the banks with more support then the banks will be able to provide better loans to the farmers”.
The first seminar of day three at Krushi Odisha focused on the topic ‘Market Linkages and Value Addition.’ The session was moderated by Mr. Rajen Padhy, Director, B-One Business House. The Chief Guest of the occasion Sri R. Raghu Prasad, Commissioner cum Secretary, Fisheries and ARD Dept, Govt. of Odisha enlightened the gathering of farmers, dignitaries, students, media persons and public about the manifold increase in farmers’ income.
Other dignitaries on the Dias included Mr. Nalin Raval, CEO, NCML Agribusiness Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Amit Goyal, Managing Director, Star Agri Warehousing Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Samarendra Mishra, Director, OVO Farms Pvt Ltd., Mr. Nagesh K. Barik, Sr. Scientist, Agribusiness Incubation Centre, ICAR- Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture CIFA, who shared their Ideas and opinion on boosting up the Market linkages to the Agricultural Production by the farmers.
The second seminar held on day three from was on the topic ‘Smart Solutions by Agri Start-ups and Value Chain Management.’ Mr. Saroj Nayak, Dean Faculty and Planning, School of Basic Sciences, IIT Bhubaneswar was the moderator of the seminar.
The Dignitaries on the Dias were, Mr. S. Sreenivas Rao, Co-Founder TraceX, Mr. Ananda Kumar Mishra, Founder & CEO, Grozip, Mr. KC Mishra, Founder & Director, eKutir,Mr. Ashok Prasad, Co-Founder, Unnati, Ms. Anu Meena, Founder, AgroWave who had put up their points of concern.
“The need to link a farmer to a consumer and vice versa is a major point of concern. Farmer has to understand what the consumer needs and the consumer in turn should understand the value of a farmer’s hard work.” Mr. KC Mishra, Founder & Director, eKutir is a veteran innovator and entrepreneur from Odisha He informed that Bloom, a new brand developed by his team has received investment from the Swiss government. We are working intensively with farmers in 5 districts of Odisha.
The focus of the first pathshala of today was ‘Market management of agricultural products to gain profit’ was the theme for the first session of Day 3 pathshala, where Mr. Sukumar Das, Agro Business Management Professor, Utkal University proposed his points. Market plays a crucial role in the agricultural sector hence, it is important to learn about the market before carrying out farming. The farmers should get together and constitute Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) and register for it. As a result, the companies will be able to reach them to buy their produce”, said Smt. Gayatri Patnaik, Deputy Director, Statistics Cooperative Dept.
The second segment of Pathshala revolved around discussions regarding ‘Market Oriented Production for Profitability’ Scientists from OUAT, Dr. Mahamaya Prasad Nayak, Dr. Sanat Mishra and Scientist from IRRI, Bhubaneswar, Dr. Kishore Kumar Behera participated in the event.
India leads in production of milk, pulses, rice and vegetables. However, the focus should shift to towards profit rather than just production since our state lacks cold storage and the produce cannot be preserved for longer periods of time. Hence, adequate attention should be paid as to how to sell these products while gaining some amount of profit. Expert, Dr. Mahamaya Prasad discussed in this context.
‘Krushi Odisha’, the annual flagship five day exhibition cum knowledge sharing event by Dept. of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Govt. of Odisha is to being held from 20-24 January 2020 at Janata Maidan, Bhubaneswar. Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the function on 20th January. It is worth mentioning here that Odisha has bagged the Krishi Karman award five times in a row and the Commendation Award from the central government. The Government of Odisha has collaborated with industry body FICCI for Krushi Odisha.