Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah chaired a review meeting of National Cooperative Organic Limited at the Ministry of Cooperation in New Delhi today. Minister of State for Cooperation Shri Murlidhar Mohol, Secretary to Ministry of Cooperation Shri Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Cooperation Shri Pankaj Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director, National Cooperative Organic Limited Shri Minesh Shah and Chairman, NABARD Shri Shaji K.V. and senior officials of the Ministry were present on the occasion.
During the meeting, Shri Amit Shah said that all PACS in the country should be linked to the organic mission and a campaign should be launched to promote organic products. He emphasized that special attention should be given to identify the sources of organic products and to ensure the purity of organic products.
Shri Amit Shah said that NCOL should focus on building a strong supply chain of authentic organic products from farmers to customers under its "Bharat Organics" brand. He emphasized that NCOL should ensure mandatory testing of each batch of "Bharat Organics" products so that customers have access to pure, authentic organic products in the market.
He also mentioned that, to achieve this goal, farmers associated with Amul dairies and NDDB institutions should be encouraged to adopt organic farming. Shri Amit Shah said that farmers should get fair and attractive prices for their organic products so that they are encouraged to promote organic farming.
Shri Shah told NCOL and the Ministry of Cooperation to hold a meeting with Amul regarding Bharat Organics products and determine the prices of organic flour and organic Arhar dal in the interest of farmers so that they are encouraged to adopt organic farming.
He further mentioned that once farmers start receiving higher prices, they will certainly be motivated to switch to organic farming. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that if marketing is good, the awareness among people about organic products will undoubtedly lead to a significant increase in the demand for these products across the country.
He appealed to promote organic products during the upcoming festivals. Shri Amit Shah said that all PACS in the country should become sources of organic agricultural products, centres for the sale of organic products, and centres for the sale of seeds, so that national cooperative institutions like NCOL, NCEL, and BBSSL can also be promoted.
He also said that at least one young farmer should be included in these 2 lakh cooperative societies who can act as a motivator in strengthening the local cooperative structure in his/her area in the future. Shri Shah also laid emphasis on proper training of PACS members as well as farmers.
Union Minister of Cooperation said that NABARD in collaboration with the Ministry of Cooperation should formulate a new mechanism for the PACS so that loans are made available to every farmer as per his capacity to bear such loans.