ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday launched the ‘Sambandh’ mega membership drive aimed at bringing more farmers into Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and Large Area Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPCS), and said cooperative institutions should serve as a lifeline for farmers rather than function as political platforms.
Addressing the state-level launch programme at the OUAT Krushi Shiksha Sadan here, Majhi urged farmers to join PACS and LAMPCS in large numbers, describing ‘Sambandh’ as an initiative to strengthen the relationship and trust between the government and farming families.
“Cooperative institutions are not political platforms; they are the lifeline of our farmer brothers and sisters,” Majhi said.
The Chief Minister said Odisha has formulated its Cooperative Policy 2026, under which PACS and LAMPCS are being transformed from institutions primarily focused on credit delivery into multi-service, one-stop solution centres for rural communities. These centres will provide farmers access to fertilizers, seeds, modern farm machinery, banking services, crop insurance and milk collection facilities under one roof. The government is also providing farmers a minimum support price of Rs 3,100 per quintal for paddy, he said.
As part of the programme, Majhi inaugurated 185 transformed mandis, 50 Custom Hiring Centres, 250 Common Service Centres (CSCs), 60 new consumer stores, new offices and warehouses in 70 PACS, and milk collection centres in 21 PACS.
He also laid the foundation stones for four model mandis and three grain warehouses under the world’s largest grain storage programme.
For the first time, the state also began the process of distributing dividends to farmer-members of PACS and LAMPCS. The dividend distribution process for the 2024-25 financial year was launched for members of 322 PACS and LAMPCS. The government said more than 8 lakh farmers belonging to over 500 cooperative societies are expected to benefit from the dividend distribution process for 2024-25.
Majhi also launched a scheme to promote sugarcane production in cooperative sugar industry areas, aimed at increasing farmers’ income and reviving the cooperative sugar industry.
Under the initial phase, sugarcane farmers in the areas served by the Badamba and Aska cooperative sugar mills will receive an input subsidy of Rs 15,000 per acre.
