Date:03/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/03/stories/2008120354370500.htm

Tamil Nadu

3 blocks in Tirupur to get aid under technology transfer fund

R. Vimal Kumar

Rs. 10,000 will be given as grant to form farmers’ club

Tirupur: Earnings of farmers in Tirupur, Udumalpet and Avinashi blocks are set to witness a multifold increase as National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development plans to extend financial assistance for enabling them to adopt advanced technological practices.

The support will be offered from the Farmers’ Technology Transfer Fund (FTTF) set up by NABARD at the national level with a corpus of Rs. 25 crore generated out of its operating profit for 2007-08, during this fiscal.

Under this scheme, grants and soft loans will be given for a plethora of activities such as formation of farmer’s clubs, dissemination of appropriate technologies and ‘commercial intelligence’ through direct contacts, literature and visuals, financial inclusion programmes and networking with value chains.

V. Suresh, Assistant General Manager, NABARD, told The Hindu that to promote establishment of more farmer’s clubs in the three blocks, Rs. 10,000 would be extended as grant towards formation of each such club with about 20 members in its fold.

At present, only one farmer’s club each exists in Tirupur and Avinashi blocks, while Udumalpet block is yet to have one.

“Of the total grant for a club, Rs. 2,000 will be earmarked towards maintenance expenses, Rs. 5,000 for holding awareness and orientation meets and the remaining amount to be utilized for holding ‘meet the expert’ programmes at the rate of two such events a year,” Mr Suresh said.

The clubs, according to him, will forge better bank-borrower relationship and improve flow of agriculture credit in the rural areas of Tirupur, Udumalpet and Avinashi blocks.

Some of the other activities to be supported under the FTTF package include economic assistance to set up Farmers’ Training and Rural Development Centres by either commercial banks or any other agencies. “We will meet 50 percent of the annual recurring expenses or Rs. 15 lakh, whichever is lower, for the purposes of training and technology transfer to farmers by the centres,” Mr. Suresh said.