Indian Bank zonal office and Salem District Farmers Club Federation jointly organised the ‘Smart Farmer 1000 project’ training programme at Tapioca and Castor Research Station of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Yethapur on Tuesday.
Rohini R. Bhajibhakare, District Collector, inaugurated the training programme.
Speaking on the occasion, the Collector emphasised on the overall development of the farming community in the district with the latest advanced agricultural technologies.
Thousand farmers are identified from various forums like farmers clubs, farmers producers organisations, self-help groups, joint liability groups in the district for the implementation of ‘smart farmers 1000 project’ with an objective of overall development of farming community with advanced agriculture technologies with the involvement of all government departments including banks, TNAU, departments of agriculture, horticulture, agricultural engineering, agri marketing, animal husbandry and other related line departments.
Indian Bank, the lead bank, extended overall support for the effective implementation of this project in coordination with INDSETI.
The credit facilities to the 1000 farmers will be extended through four branches of Indian Bank.
C.R. Gopikrishnan, Deputy General Manager / Zonal Manager of the Indian Bank, spoke on the different bank schemes and Prime Minister’s social security schemes and assured financial assistance to the farmers for their economic uplift.
S. Jayaraman, president, Salem District Farmers Clubs Federation, explained about the ‘smart farmer 1000’ project.
Bhama Buvaneswari, District Development Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, detailed the government schemes and the subsidy schemes implemented through NABARD.
S. R. Venkatachalam, Professor and Head, TCRS, Yethappur, explained the latest technologies in agriculture.
A. Udayakumar, Lead District Manager, also spoke on the occasion.
Loans to members of Joint Liability Groups, under integrated farming system were distributed on the occasion.