New Delhi: As part of its concerted efforts to fulfil the promise to double farmers income by 2022, Government is organising first-ever ‘India International Cooperatives Trade Fair’(IICTF) at Pragati Maidan in Delhi from October 11 to 13. The fair will also promote the government’s flagship programmes like Start-up India and Stand-up India for young entrepreneurs.
More than 120 cooperatives and 35 countries including US, Russia, China, and Bangladesh would be the part of fair, organised by NCDC in association with NEDAC, NAFED, APEDA, ITPO etc. with the support of agricultural and commerce and external affairs ministries.
In India, around 94% of total farmers are members of at least one cooperative institution. IICTF aims at furthering government’s vision and goal of doubling farmers’ income by promoting cooperative-to-cooperative trade within India and abroad, and promoting exports of key agriculture commodities and products leading to enhanced rural and farm prosperity.
IICTF also offers a huge opportunity for the industry and business houses from India and abroad to build alliances, business networking, product sourcing and above all, interacting with the primary producers of a wide range of products and service providers.
Aiming at promoting initiatives like Start-up India and Stand-up India for young entrepreneurs with new and innovative ideas, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has formulated Yuva Sahakar Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme 2019 with outlay of 100 crores, which will be launched by Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar at the opening ceremony of the fair.
The Fair is expected to evolve a conducive environment for cooperative trade in the global arena, help in expansion and diversification of business, technology transfer, help lay international quality benchmark for cooperative products etc. and likely to result in sharing of best practices, collaborations and partnerships.
