The 43rd Foundation Day of NABARD was celebrated in a city hotel through an event on Friday. NABARD has been working for agriculture and rural development of the country since inception under its mandate as “Development Bank of the Nation”.  There are various innovative products like Kisan Credit Card, SHG, FPO, JLG and many other products that have benefitted large number of farmers and rural households.

The General Manager of NABARD, Tripura Regional Office Anil S Kotmire, DGM of NABARD Diganta Kr. Das, Deputy General Manager of Reserve Bank of India, Tripura region Sudip Bhattacharya, Chairman of Tripura Gramin Bank Satyendra Singh and many others top officials of different banks were present in this programme on this day.

Diganta Kumar Das, DGM NABARD, highlighted NABARD’s journey since inception and informed the audience about various landmark initiatives started by NABARD such as Self-Help group (SHG), Kisan Credit Card (KCC), Joint Liability Groups (JLG) and Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs). He further highlighted the digitization of the Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks all over the country and initiatives taken in Tripura state for obtaining GI tag for Matabari peda, Risha and Pachra. He also highlighted the role of NABARD in promoting FPOs and providing sustainable livelihood to the people of Tripura ensuring prosperity in rural Tripura.

Das added that NABARD was established on July 12, 1982 which means that 43 years have passed and as it is the apex financial institution to facilitate growth of agriculture and rural development where work is done by promoting flow of credit and through other supportive initiatives. Hence they have made different products for the farmers so that they can take loans easily. He explained about the different products of NABARD and the kind of work which is done through these products which ultimately benefits the farmers.

He also said that funds are given to the government of every state through RIDF i.e Rural Infrastructure Development Fund so that infrastructure of the rural areas are developed in a proper way and it is done with the help of 49 different activities. He also discussed the initiatives of NABARD and added that there are various projects which will be developed by them in future as well for rural development.

Apurba Roy applauded NABARD’s efforts for providing basic infrastructure facilities in the state of Tripura and indicated that NABARD and the State Government are working hand in hand for providing basic facilities and the infrastructure for developing overall economy of the state . He stated about the shortcomings in agriculture and efforts required to promote integrated farming in a big way in order to make farming a profitable business for the people of Tripura.  He also highlighted about providing agricultural infrastructure especially for micro irrigation during the winter and summer season to ensure irrigation for the winter and summer crops.  He stated about the potential for agro based industries which needs to be focused especially Pineapple and Mango.

Anil S Kotmire, GM/OIC highlighted that the credit portfolio of the state needs to be increased manifold in order to promote the agricultural economy of the state.  He emphasized that the major banks in the state should finance the entrepreneurs to develop demonstration unit in each sector such as cold storage, large warehouses, agro processing unit, floricultural, horticultural corps etc. He stated there is a scope of development of Rural Haat in each block of the state to promote agripreneurs, Further, he stated that the NGOs and the FPOs have bigger role to play in the agri economy of the state as per capita land holding is very small. The aggregation of the farmers is the need of the hour. As such FPOs are required to be promoted in a big way. 

In the event, two Mobile Vans, sanctioned by NABARD, were flagged off by the Hon’ble Secretary. Further, the unit cost booklet on investment activities published by NABARD for FY 2024-25 was released and the best performing Bank Sakhis working under TRLM and NABARD were recognized and provided with token of appreciation.