Gandhinagar: Home Minister Amit Shah who was in Gandhinagar on Saturday at the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India Ltd. (NCDFI) E-market awards gave away prizes to around 37 winning organisations from across 25 states and union territories.
Speaking on the occasion, he said: “Cooperation among cooperatives is important for the progress of the cooperative sector. APMC accounts will also soon be in cooperative banks. If every farmer works via a cooperative bank, it will give a major boost to online transactions. Cooperatives must support other cooperatives.”
The Minister added: “I urge the NCDFI members to move 100 per cent towards e-business. We have begun with a small pilot project by giving KCC Cards to each farmer in a couple of districts in Gujarat itself. Each farmer’s account is being transferred to a cooperative bank. The milk payments are being transferred into their bank accounts. If this model is implemented across the country, it will bring about a huge change to further accelerate India’s digital economy.”
Amit Shah also urged NCDFI and NDDB to encourage natural and organic farming.
He said they should promote and educate farmers about these techniques and develop models to implement them so that farmers’ incomes are not affected.
“We want to focus on organic farming. We have formed a plan to make it possible at the grassroots level. The first is to set up cow dung collection booths and milk collection as cow dung can be used as natural fertilizers. We have to reduce chemical fertilisers in farming. Internationally, there is an opportunity for organic produce, and we want to seize the opportunity,” he said.
Shah also laid the foundation for the NCDFI office complex in Anand.
The NCDFI is now investing in a new office complex in Vaghasi village near Anand, covering a land size of 7,099 sq. m. with a total built-up area of 4,674 sq. m.
The NDDB will construct the facility turn-key, marking a milestone as NCDFI transitions from a rented space to its structure.
–IANS