July 15, 2018
Agricultural Marketing Dept: Providing proper platforms for marketing state’s produce
The Agricultural Marketing Department of the Bengal Government has done tremendous work over the last seven years, since the Trinamool Congress came to power, to improve the lot of the farmers. With a large population dependant on agriculture, the Government has made it one of its primary purposes to provide proper marketing services for procuring, storing and selling crops grown in the state.
Creation of marketing infrastructures: To encourage smooth, fast and fair marketing of agricultural produce throughout the State, the Agricultural Marketing Department creates, develops and maintains market infrastructures such as market-linking roads, primary, secondary and terminal markets, auctions sheds, etc.
Cold storage: The Government runs 568 cold storages with a collective capacity of 77.83 lakh metric tonnes (MT).
Amar Fasal Amar Gola: Amar Fasal Amar Gola (‘gola’ meaning ‘silo’) was adopted to minimise the post-harvest losses of vegetables and fruits due to the lack of proper storage facilities. Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to deserving farmers to construct both superior quality traditional structures as well as modern storage structures. Rs 5,000 is provided for traditional storage structures, Rs 17,329 for permanent, sturdy storage structures and Rs 32,389 for storage structures for onions.
Amar Fasal Amar Gari: Amar Fasal Amar Gari was initiated to ensure hassle-free transportation of agricultural produce to minimise post-harvest loss. This scheme too is implemented through the granting of financial assistance. A sum of Rs 10,000 is given for buying rickshaw vans. The financial assistance is credited to either the bank account or the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) account of the beneficiary.
These schemes and programmes have been able to solve the major problems that farmers had been facing. Every year, the money allocated for these schemes are being increased to gradually cover the whole of the State.
