Govt nods setting up of 3 multi-state cooperative societies

A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by PM Modi

In what was described as another measure to ensure "prosperity through cooperatives", the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of three national-level cooperative societies to promote export, organic products and seeds that will further unlock the sector's potential.

The proposals to set up national-level multi-state cooperative societies under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002, were taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said all efforts should be made to leverage the strengths of cooperatives and transform them into "successful and vibrant" business enterprises.

Modi told in the meeting that it was imperative for the cooperatives to think globally and act locally to leverage the sector's comparative advantage.

The national-level cooperative society for export, aimed at unlocking the export potential of cooperatives, will guide the sector in getting benefits of various government policies in a focused manner.

With the setting up of such a society, it is expected that the focus on export will increase production at various levels and lead to more employment generation in the sector, especially with the need to process goods and enhance services to match international standards.

An increase in the export of products from the cooperative sector would also promote 'Make in India' and thus lead to 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', an official statement said.

The society for organic products at the national level is tasked to manage activities, which include looking after the entire supply chain, providing technical guidance, training, capacity building and developing a dedicated market intelligence system. This society will work with the one on exports to find a market abroad.

"This society will also help cooperatives and ultimately their farmer members in getting benefits of high prices of organic products through aggregation, branding and marketing on a large-scale by facilitating testing and certification at affordable cost," the statement said, adding, a balanced approach will be maintained between regular mass farming and organic farming while promoting the latter.

It will also provide institutional support for aggregation, certification, testing, procurement, storage, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, logistic facilities, marketing of organic products and arranging financial assistance to the organic farmers.

This society will empanel accredited organic testing labs and certification bodies to bring down the cost of testing and certification.

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The national level society for seeds will act as an apex organisation for the production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds as well as strategic research and development. It is also tasked to develop a system for preserving and promoting indigenous natural seeds.

The proposed society will help increase the seed replacement and varietal replacement rates, ensuring farmers' role in quality seed cultivation and seed variety trials, production and distribution of certified seeds with a single brand name by utilising the network of all levels of cooperatives.

"The availability of quality seeds will help in increasing agricultural productivity, in strengthening food security, and also (in) increasing the income of the farmers. The members will benefit both by realisation of better prices by production of quality seeds, higher production of crops by use of High Yielding Variety seeds and also by dividend distributed out of the surplus generated by the society (sic)," the statement said.