In an effort to give a boost to the agri-business activities of small farmers in the state, the Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (HAFED) is planning to form Small Farmers’ Agri-business Consortium (SFAC) on the same pattern of the existing Central body of farmers. SFAC, working at the Central level, has been undertaking various initiatives to link the small farmers to technology as well as to the markets in association with private, corporate or cooperative sector. Giving information about the proposal, Sudhir Rajpal, Managing Director, HAFED, told ENS, “We will soon register SFAC as a private limited company and the total capital investment will be around Rs 2 crore. The board will comprise representatives from Hafed, Kisan club and the NGO. The equity will be also be shared by these three organisations. About Rs 1 crore will be obtained from the banks as term loan, Rs 50 lakh will be granted by the Government of India as subsidy and the rest will be equity in the form of share capital and venture capital. Our consultants have prepared the project report and soon it will be sent to the Central government for approval. At first SFAC will work in Sonepat district and after it becomes successful, the farmers of other regions will also be involved.”Hafed plans to promote organic farming through SFAC initially and it has already identified 160 acres of certified area for producing organic vegetables. “About 30 farmers will be engaged at first in the venture and we aim to cover an area of 1,000 acres over a period of five years. The project, once implemented, will help farmers to streamline the marketing process of their products,” said another senior official of Hafed. The agricultural products to be marketed under SFAC initiative will be brought into the market under a new brand name. These will be exported as well as sold in the NCR region. SFAC will also provide post-harvest management support to farmers. “This will include picking up crop from fields, grading, sorting, storing and transporting them to markets. Refrigerated vans will be available for preventing damage to crop and, if required, the products will be stored in cold-chains,” said the official.
