Increasing Cooperative Activities in Agriculture Sector

Source: PIB

What is the News?

The Minister of State for Cooperation has informed Rajya Sabha about the Central Sector Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (CSISAC) scheme.

About Central Sector Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (CSISAC) scheme:

• CSISAC scheme is the result of a merger of two erstwhile schemes of 11th Five-Year Plan viz; 
  1. Restructured Central Sector Scheme for Assistance to National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Programmes for Development of Cooperatives and 
  2. Central Sector Scheme for Education & Training. 
• Objective: To provide financial assistance for improving the economic conditions of cooperatives, remove regional imbalances, and speed up cooperative development in agricultural and allied sectors.
• Implementing Agency: Assistance is provided under the scheme through the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)

Key Features of the Scheme:

• Financial assistance is provided under the scheme for marketing, storage, and processing of agricultural produce, besides the supply of agricultural inputs. 
• Subsidy to the tune of 15% to 25% is provided to Cooperatives depending on the category of state in addition to the term loan. 
• The government also provides a Guarantee for procurement operations of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). 
• Moreover, assistance is provided for providing training to farmers who are members and employees of various types of cooperative societies through the National Cooperative Union of India(NCUI) and the National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT).