Chennai, August 29 (BPNS)
The agriculture ministry of Tamil Nadu will set up special markets to display branded products of Farm Producer Organisations( FPOs) in five places of the state. The special markets would be set up at Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy and Salem, according to a statement from the office of the Tamil Nadu agriculture minister on Sunday.
The agriculture ministry has also allocated an amount of Rs 8 crore for setting up these markets. The products of the Farm Producers Organisations would be showcased in these markets after proper packing and branding.
The ministry would train farmers to become traders and five members of each Farm Producer organization (FPO) would be given training to become traders. According to a study conducted by the agriculture ministry, around 1.6 lakh farmers would benefit from such a move of the agriculture ministry. An amount of Rs 2.2 crore is allocated for these training programmes of farmers.
The agriculture ministry would also commence a two-year diploma programme in agriculture engineering and the course would be conducted at the Agriculture Engineering College and Research Institute in Kumlur, Trichy. The statement said that 40 students would be admitted to this course and the main idea of the programme is to provide employment to students from rural backgrounds. The farmers at the rural area would be benefitted from the students of this course as they would be equipped to repair agricultural instruments and tools.
The state agriculture ministry also announced a 12 crore micro-irrigation project which would benefit Adi Dravidar and Tribal farmers in Kancheepuram, Virudhanagar, Ramanathapuram, Theni, Pudukottai, Kancheepuram, Ariyalur, Krishnagiri and Chengalpettu areas of Tamil Nadu.
The ministry has also proposed to open three agriculture colleges at Karur district, Kilvelur in Nagapattinam district and Chettinadu in Sivaganga district. An amount of Rs 30 crore is allocated for the three agriculture colleges to commence classes from the 2021-22 financial year.
Tamil Nadu state agriculture minister MRK Panneerselvam while speaking to BPNS said, “The Tamil Nadu government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is bringing up major changes in agriculture sector and this will totally benefit the farmers of the state. We are opening three new agriculture colleges in the state as well as we are into promoting Farm Producer Organisations(FPOs). Our aim is for the total development of the farming community of Tamil Nadu and we are striving hard for that.
