BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has bagged investment intents of around `1,412 crore in Agriculture Marketing sector during the second edition of Make-in-Odisha Conclave 2018.The proposed investments included `300 crore by Reliance Retail, `520 crore by ITC and `300 crore in warehousing besides `112 crore in contract farming.Minister for Cooperation Surya Narayan Patro said Dabur has signed an agreement to procure raw materials and evinced interest for investing in the State.
“Development and promotion of agricultural marketing infrastructure and linkages to enhance farmers’ income is now Government’s priority. We are also focusing on equipping farmers with vital information on market conditions and trends and establish a quality bench mark,” he said.
Cooperation Secretary Ranjana Chopra said, B2B discussions were held with retail chains such as SAFAL and Reliance retail for marketing linkages to fruits and vegetables by bringing in more farmers and Farmer Producer Organisations under their fold and open up more retail outlets especially for fruits and vegetables.
CEO of Kamatan Farm Tech Pvt Ltd Pravesh Sharma expressed interest in setting up and running a private market yard for a variety of products, including minor forest produce.Another company, V2C expressed interest in providing marketing support to producers such as ‘chironji’ and lemon grass for niche market.
An MoU was signed between Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority and Department of Cooperation for mobilising warehouses for registration through the institutions/organisations.A MoU was also signed between Nafed and Markfed and apex level cooperative organisations for making Markfed a nodal agency for sale of Nafed brand pulses, tea, tea bag, sale of bio-fertilisers and other agri-inputs.