A daylong awareness camp on Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises was today organized by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in collaboration with Planning and Marketing department Kulgam at Devsar, here.
A number of local farmers, Self-help group members, prominent citizens, unemployed youth and PRI representatives from different villages of Block Devsar and Pahloo attended the awareness camp. Additional District Development Commissioner (ADDC) Kulgam, Showkat Ahmad Rather was the chief guest.
While addressing the participants, the ADDC deliberated upon the benefits of the scheme and appealed to the youth to come forward and establish food processing units in the primary sector of the economy so that employment can be generated besides food is also preserved.
Chief Agriculture Officer, Sartaj Ahmad Shah raised awareness about the PMFME scheme. He said that the scheme has a number of benefits like 35% subsidy, hassle free loan from Financial Institutions, complete hand holding for registration under Udyam, FSSAI, GST along with full guidance about Packaging, Labeling, Branding and Marketing.
He encouraged the people to take benefit of the PMFME scheme which not only opens a number of opportunities for them to export their products to different parts of the country outside J&K but also to different countries outside India.
Speaking on the occasion District Agriculture Officer Dawood Ahmad Shad exhorted people to avail benefits of the PMFME scheme and process local agricultural products to increase their shelf life as well as add considerable value to these products.
The programme witnessed huge participation and several interested participants were registered under the PM-FME Scheme on spot. A Resource Person from the Agriculture department briefed the audience about the ODOP Spices and Pickles, its scope and potential.
The participants were acquainted with the scope of expansion of Spices cultivation and its trade in the district.