Kochi: The agricultural subsidy being given to farmers would not be removed or reduced, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Co-operation, Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, said in Kochi today (Nov 30).

Inaugurating a seminar on 'Transformation of marketing co-operatives to meet the new challenges', Yadav said no decision had yet been taken on removing subsidies. The Centre, he said, was prepared to bear the loss to the public exchequer on this account.

Assuring that there was no need for any apprehension in this regard, he said that farmers should be given subsidies to enable them compete in the world market.

He said the Centre was giving a lot of subsidies to set up cold storage facilities throughout the country, which would help farmers preserve their produce. About 800 cold storages had come in several places in India as part of a Rs two crore project. The Government was giving Rs 50 lakh as subsidy for the project and another Rs 60 lakh subsidy in hilly and difficult areas, he said.

Calling for a national level consensus on evolving a new pattern of cooperatives, he said that a professional approach was needed in managing cooperatives. "There should be no political or administrative control over cooperative bodies and professionals should be appointed to transform them into vibrant business enterprises," he said.

He opined that Government officials should not run cooperatives. Self sufficient cooperatives run by professionals was the need of the hour, Yadav said.

PTI