ZIRO, Aug 28: The Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS) can play a pivotal role in generating self-employment and strengthening infrastructure facilities for the dairy sector in Lower Subansiri, said NABARD’s District Development Manager (DDM) for Lower Subansiri, M Lowang.
A district level sensitization workshop on DEDS and the National Livestock Mission – Entrepreneurship Development & Employment Generation (NLM-EDEG) was held to sensitize the bank officials, the implementing department, and dairy entrepreneurs here on Monday.
NABARD is the subsidy-channelizing agency under the EDEG component of the NLM – an initiative of the agriculture & farmers’ welfare ministry.
Lowang urged the financial institutions to give priority to the projects being implemented in a cluster mode, covering dairy farmers/women SHGs to help them get better prices in the market and ensure regular repayment of bank loans.
“All stakeholders, including the NABARD, banks, and nodal departments, should work in unison to make the scheme a success,” Lowang said.
He highlighted the salient features of the DEDS and the NLM-EDEG’s credit- and subsidy-linked activities.
District Veterinary Officer Dr Hano Tama suggested to the farmers to not go for the dairy sector with the sole intention of availing subsidies from the government. He said anyone opting to go for dairy farming should have good knowledge about scientific management of dairy animals.
Tama assured all possible assistance from the department in building the capacity of the farmers through training. He advised interested farmers to visit the government farm to gain first-hand experience in livestock farming.
Queries and apprehensions relating to the schemes, bank finance, land mortgage, securities, etc, raised by the participants were responded to by the DDM through the department and the bankers.
The programme was attended by the Ziro veterinary officer, bankers from the SBI, the Apex Bank, the Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank, and the Central Bank of India, and entrepreneurs and progressive farmers from various parts of the district.
