Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurate the pilot project of ‘World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector’ at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on Saturday. The project is being done in 11 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) of 11 States with a financial outlay of more than Rs 2,500 crore.
This initiative involves transitioning all functional PACS onto a unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) based national software, ensuring seamless integration and connectivity. By linking these PACS with NABARD through State Cooperative Banks and District Central Cooperative Banks, the project aims to enhance the operation efficiency and governance of PACS, thus benefiting crores of small and marginal farmers.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated a project for computerization in 18,000 PACS across the country aimed at rejuvenating the cooperative sector and empowering small and marginal farmers.
NABARD has developed the National Level Common Software for this project, tailored to meet the diverse needs of PACS across the country. Onboarding of 18,000 PACS on ERP software has been completed, marking a significant milestone in the project’s implementation.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for additional 500 PACS across the country for construction of godowns and other agricultural infrastructure under this initiative. This initiative aims to seamlessly integrate PACS godowns with the food grain supply chain, fortifying food security and fostering economic development in the country with a collaborative effort supported by NABARD and spearheaded by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
This initiative is being implemented through convergence of various existing schemes like the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure (AMI), etc. to enable PACS participating in the project to avail subsidies and interest subvention benefits for undertaking infrastructure development.
Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi noted that the power of cooperation has a huge role in strengthening the foundation of agriculture and farming, this has led to a separate Ministry for Cooperation. He said that the ‘World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector’ launched today will result in thousands of warehouses and godowns in every corner of the country. This and other projects like computerization of PACs will give new dimensions to agriculture and modernize farming in the country.
Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation, Amit Shah, Union Minister for Agriculture, Arjun Munda and Union Minister for Commerce, Piyush Goyal were present on the occasion among others.
