The independent office of the District Development Manager of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was inaugurated on Wednesday by Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of the Jashpur District Panchayat. With the establishment of the independent office, farmers and rural beneficiaries of Jashpur district will now have access to NABARD-related services and guidance at the local level.
Until now, all NABARD operations in Jashpur district were managed through the District Development Manager’s office in Raigarh. The opening of this independent office will further enhance effectiveness in scheme implementation, coordination, and outreach to beneficiaries.
The program was attended by the Lead District Manager, the Director of the Rural Self-Employment Training Institute, representatives from various banks, officials from the Agricultural Science Center, officials from various departments, farmer beneficiaries, and representatives from voluntary organizations. Brijendra Samantray, a senior official from NABARD’s Chhattisgarh Regional Office in Raipur, also participated and interacted with beneficiary farmers to learn about the progress of the schemes.
Newly appointed District Development Manager, Mr. Prem Prakash Singh, gave a presentation on the district’s agricultural and rural development potential. He stated that NABARD has so far benefited over 13,000 tribal families, with a total population of approximately 100,000, through horticulture and other agriculture-based activities across 12,100 acres. He stated that over the past five years, farmers associated with these projects have earned a cumulative profit of over 100 crore rupees. Currently, these activities are generating a profit of approximately 25 crore rupees and a production of 9,000 metric tons annually.
He said that under the Jeeva project, farmers are developing new experiments and formulas of natural inputs to promote natural farming, which is giving impetus to the revival of natural farming.
On this occasion, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Abhishek Kumar released NABARD’s Potential Based Lending Scheme (PBS) in the presence of Lead District Manager, NABARD, Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks, Krishi Vigyan Kendra and various departments. According to the scheme, the loan potential of Rs 865 crore has been estimated in the agricultural sector of the district, while the total loan potential in priority sectors has been determined to be Rs 1,428 crore.
The Chief Executive Officer commended NABARD for its work in horticulture development in the district, stating that special attention now needed to be paid to developing processing capacity. He assured the district administration of all possible support in this regard.
At the end of the programme, farmer beneficiaries who performed excellently under Vaadi, Watershed Development and Jeeva Project were honoured.