Bhubaneswar: State government owned Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (APICOL) Wednesday signed an MoU with Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), a non-government organisation to promote entrepreneurial ventures at grass root level.
APICOL MD Subhrendu Kumar Dey signed the agreement with PRADAN Executive Director N Damodaran on Agriculture Entrepreneurship Promotion Scheme (AEPS) in the presence of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Minister Arun Sahu.
As per the agreement, the scheme will operate in 40 tribal dominated blocks spread over 12 districts on a pilot basis to promote entrepreneurial ventures at grass root level.
Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO), Farmer Interest Groups, Small and Marginal farmers in their locality will be assisted by the Agriculture Entrepreneurs (AE) for increasing farmers income through enhance production and productivity in agriculture and allied sectors.
Each Agriculture Entrepreneur will cater to more than 200 farmers in a cluster of four to five villages and would act as one stop resource and solution provider for them in the locality. It would benefit around two lakh small and marginal farmers to augment their income in next three years.
Some AEs would also provide services for livestock rearing and fisheries to augment farmer’s livelihood.
(UNI)