National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) celebrates Foundation Day

Guwahati, July 12: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the apex level development financial institution of the country, celebrated its 37th Foundation Day on 12 July 2018. In Assam, a thematic discussion on Collectivisation and Market Linkages – Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) was organised on July 12 at NABARD Regional Office, Guwahati as part of the Foundation Day celebrations. Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora was the chief guest for the function. This has been stated in a press release.

Welcoming the guests, Rajashree K Baruah, Chief General Manager, NABARD, re-emphasized the need for discussion on collectivisation and market linkages – Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). VS Bhaskar, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Government of Assam delivered special addresses appreciating the role of NABARD in rural prosperity. The function was attended by several senior officials of the Assam Government, officials from line departments, RBI, SLBC, bankers, representatives of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)/Producers Organisation Promoting Institutes(POPIs).

A Booklet on FPOs was released by the Minister. The broad deliberations were on what it would take to double the income of farmers, particularly of farmer members of FPOs over the next 4 years by adopting input-output aggregation strategy for substantial savings in input cost and significant returns on product selling. On the occasion, the best performing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) were felicitated. NABARD also felicitated the renowned innovator of Assam, Uddhab Kumar Baharali, who has contributed immensely by his energy-efficient and low cost agro-based technological devices, the release added.