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National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has released Rs.1060 crore of financial assistance in the year 2004-05 for various cooperative projects against Rs.626.62 crores during the previous year, thus registering an increase of 69 per cent. The major areas covered by these projects include agro-processing marketing of farm produce, distribution of agricultural inputs, Integrated Cooperative Development Projects (ICDP) and weaker sections programmes like fishery, poultry, handlooms etc. The States, which recorded maximum release of NCDC assistance are, Andhra Pradesh around Rs. 185 crore followed by Maharashtra Rs.166 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs. 150 crore and Kerala Rs. 109 crore. Activity-wise, the Corporation’s major share of funds of over Rs. 432 crore has been released for agro-processing units like sugar factories, textile units, oilseed projects, foodgrains and fruit & vegetables processing factories etc. To provide necessary support to the farmers for marketing of agricultural produce funds worth Rs.346.46 crore have been released. Under the weaker sections activities like fishery, poultry, handloom, etc. an amount of Rs. 108.58 crore has been provided by NCDC this year.
For providing funds for various projects, NCDC has divided the States into three broad categories based on criteria approved by the Planning Commission. These are cooperatively developed, under-developed and least-developed States. Recently, these States have been re-categorized with Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Goa now added to the category of cooperatively under-developed states alongwith Chhatisgarh, Himachl Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Cooperatively least developed states earlier included all the seven States of North East and Sikkim. New Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand have also been added to the category. This year NCDC has disbursed funds over Rs.475 crore to the under-developed and least-developed States, which works out to nearly 45 per cent of total assistance. The focus thus is on developing cooperative infrastructure in these States through concessional terms of financing. Funds for least-developed States cover upto 95 per cent of project cost.
NCDC is also alive to the social issues. It rose to the occasion to provide succour to the harsh tragedy of tsunami victims. The Corporation sent a special team for appraising fisheries projects worth Rs.22.23 crore in tsunami-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh to help the affected fishermen.
NCDC has provided cumulative assistance of over Rs.8784 crore to promote and strengthen various cooperative projects all over the country. The tempo would be maintained this year with the focus on consolidation of gains of previous years. Thrust areas for the current year 2005-06 are horticulture, plantation crops, marketing of agricultural produce and distribution of agro-inputs, creation of infrastructural facilities of storage; cold storage, weaker sections’ programmes like fisheries, poultry, handloom etc. modernization, diversification of processing units, rehabilitation of sick units, ICDP Scheme etc.
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