Thursday, September 29 2005 17:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and Tami Nadu's agriculture department today (Sept 29, 2005) signed a MOU under which the former will invest Rs.250 crore in the next five years on increasing the production and productivity of agriculture and augment farmers' incomes in the state.

This was the first time that NAFED had entered into such an arrangement with any state government in the country, an official press release said here.

Under the MoU, an integrated package encompassing 'backward and forward linkages' which include supply of high quality seeds and other inputs, enhanced credit against stocks, skill upgradation of farmers, risk management, development of suitable marketing infrastructure is envisaged.

Contract farming as well as purchase of commodities under commercial programme directly from farmers by involving farmers self-help Groups will be one of the key elements of the agreement.

NAFED has also agreed to assist in setting up of electronic 'shandies' and large agriculture malls, besides facilitating the procurement of contracted produce.

The MoU was signed by Agriculture Commissioner, Jagmohan Singh Raju and Managing Director of NAFED in the presence of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.