Minister exhorts FPCs to switch to agricultural waste
Addressing a webinar on ‘Cluster Development in the Agricultural MSME sector’, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari laid emphasis on increasing production along with reducing the cost of production and transportation and labour costs.
He told the representatives of Farmer Producer Company (FPC) who attended the webinar that products should be made available in the domestic market without compromising on their quality and the surplus produce can be exported outside the country.
He also appealed to the farmers to reduce the cost of production by using organic fertilizers from agricultural waste instead of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. He spoke about the availability of natural resources in each district of Vidarbha which can be utilized by Khadi and Village Industries (KVIC) Department.
He suggested that the FPCs can manufacture products from honey and silk available in Chandrapur and cluster for agarbatti can be established in bamboo cultivation belts of Chandrapur and Gadchiroli district. He also spoke about the ‘Equipment Bank’ scheme of Agricultural Department under which FPCs can rent equipment. More than 20,000 farmers are connected with 55 FPCs and agreements have been made with companies like Tata International and Walmart for marketing their produce.
