Odisha state owned Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (APICOL) today signed an MoU with Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), a non-government organization to promote entrepreneurial ventures at grass root level.
APICOL MD Subhrendu Kumar Dey signed the agreement with PRADAN Executive Director N Damodaran on Agriculture Entrepreneurship Promotion Scheme (AEPS) in the presence of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Minister Arun Sahu.
As per the agreement the scheme will operate in 40 tribal dominated blocks spread over 12 districts on a pilot basis to promote entrepreneurial ventures at grass root level.
Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO), Farmer Interest Groups, Small and Marginal farmers in their locality will be assisted by the Agriculture Entrepreneurs (AE) for increasing farmers income through enhance production and productivity in agriculture and allied sectors.
Each Agriculture Entrepreneur will cater to more than 200 farmers in a cluster of four to five villages and would act as one stop resource and solution provider for them in the locality. It would benefit around two lakh small and marginal farmers to augment their income in next three years. Some AEs would also provide services for livestock rearing and fisheries to augment farmer’s livelihood.
Dr Dey also signed a MoU with state Coordinator CSC e-goverance Services India Ltd, a central government undertaking Swarnaprabha Singh for implementation of Mukhyamantri Krushi Udyog (MKUY) launched in June last year with an objective to establish more Commercial Agri Enterprises in the state. The CSC will train its Operators ,Agri Enterepreneurs, Village level Agriculture officials on online process of MKUY.
(UNI)
