Patna: Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister, Vijay Kumar Sinha, and Cooperative Minister, Dr Prem Kumar, convened a high-level meeting on Thursday to enhance cooperation between the agriculture and cooperative departments in order to accelerate farmer development across the state.
Held at Krishi Bhawan in Patna, the meeting focused on aligning government schemes to better serve farmers and strengthen the role of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and cooperative organisations in key agricultural processes, including the distribution of seeds and fertilisers.
Concerns were raised about the declining role of PACS in fertiliser distribution due to delays in their training and licensing. Currently, PACS must undergo 15 days of training before receiving a licence to distribute fertilisers. However, a slowdown in training has caused widespread bottlenecks. To address this, Sinha pledged to issue an annual training calendar to streamline the process and ensure timely licensure through training camps. For seeds, no training is required, and PACS can apply online to receive licences on a priority basis.
Dr Kumar further recommended that the agriculture department prioritise farmers from block-level vegetable producer cooperatives, based on lists provided by the cooperative department, when distributing seeds and plants.
The ministers also discussed the promotion of beekeeping among 144 registered block-level honey-producing cooperative societies. Sinha assured these societies would be prioritised for the timely distribution of beekeeping boxes and training programmes.
Agreement was reached on authorising PACS to conduct soil testing and issue Soil Health Cards – a move aimed at improving crop planning and soil management for farmers.
Additionally, vegetable producer cooperatives will be prioritised under a scheme offering refrigerated vans at a 50% subsidy, enabling farmers to transport produce more efficiently.
Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal urged cooperative banks to expand the distribution of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to a larger number of farmers – a proposal welcomed by Cooperative Secretary Dharmendra Singh.
Senior officials from both departments, including Registrar of Cooperative Societies Inayat Khan and Joint Registrar Lalan Kumar Sharma, were also in attendance.
