Special policy on cooperative infrastructure development required for Northeast, Nagaland minister urges GoI

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Sep. 9 (EMN): Minister for Cooperation and Agriculture, G Kaito Aye has urged the Centre for a special policy focusing on cooperative infrastructure development and creation of an organic value chain for agri and horticulture products for the north-eastern (NE) region, particularly Nagaland.

He stated this during the 2-day State Cooperation Ministers Conference held on September 8 and the 9th in New Delhi, which was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Owing to the remoteness and political unrest in Nagaland, the consecutive five-year plans which targeted infrastructure development did little to create any tangible infrastructure development. The state in particular and the NE region, in general, have lagged behind and there are hardly any cooperative institutes or organisations of repute from the region, said the minister while seeking support from the Ministry of Corporation.

‘In Nagaland, the introduction of Cooperatives has been relatively late as compared to other parts of the country. 70% of the state population is in agriculture with low income and limited resources, so the importance of the role of the cooperative sector cannot be more evident,’ he pointed out.

‘The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) that has played an active role in assisting the nascent cooperative movement in the state since the 1990s has been the only consistent development partner in the state and has played a part in filling in the financial gaps,’ he added.

Aye highlighted that the state has been implementing the Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP) in five districts since 2018-19, benefitting 786 cooperative societies with 36,317 members. He said such compact area development schemes should be continued with vital back-end subsidies.

Although there are various CSS projects targeting the farmers, viz., Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), PM Kisan, Computerisation of PACS, PMFME, PMMAY, etc. there are various technical roadblocks to implementation, he said.

‘The only cooperative bank (Nagaland State Cooperative Bank Ltd.) is a non-scheduled bank, making it ineligible to access AIF and other similar schemes. It is unfortunate that till date no sanction has been issued against AIF in Nagaland. Further, the state-specific land holding system restrains the farmers from accessing the much-needed credit from the limited banking sectors in the state,’ said the minister.

He further pointed out that the dairy sector is one area that needs immediate attention.

‘There are only three district-level milk unions, while the other 13 districts do not have any dairy infrastructures. Absence of support for dairy activities has stopped the cattle farmers from growing economically, and is lagging behind their counterparts. There is so much potential to invest in dairy development in the state,’ he added.