PNB farmers' training centre to boost farm sector in Ganjam

Excerpts from Business Standard/ Hrusikesh Mohanty

BERHAMPUR: The farming sector in south Orissa's Ganjam district is likely to get a boost with the establishment of a Farmers' Training Centre near Berhampur by the state owned Punjab National Bank (PNB). The Farmers' Training Centre (FTC), the first of its kind in the state, will offer free training to the farmers on latest technologies so as to help raise agricultural productivity. Meanwhile, PNB has started imparting free training to the farmers from Tuesday at the Regional Institute of Technology and Extension (RITE), a building of the agriculture department at Rangeilunda, about 15 km from here. The farmers’ training institute has started functioning here on the occasion of the 116th anniversary of the nationalized bank, said B P Ray, head of PNB's Orissa circle. “We have entered into an agreement with the state government to offer training to the farmers at RITE till our FTC is operational”, he added.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the Rs 60-crore project at Karapalli, near Gopalpur last year. The state government has provided about seven acres of land at the site free of cost for the project. The FTC is being set up by the Punjab National Bank Farmer’s Welfare Trust, an organization sponsored by the bank to give training to the farmers in different agricultural activities. Apart from the borrowers of PNB, the borrowers of other banks, including the cooperative banks will participate in the training programme of PNB, Ray said.

Apart from providing training on agricultural activities, the FTC would also offer free training on computer courses, tailoring and embroidery. For computer courses, the Trust has entered into a tie-up arrangement with the Rajiv Gandhi Computer Saksharata Mission. In addition to PNB's own staff, the FTC would have experts from the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) as the resource persons of the institute, he added. “PNB has already set up eight FTCs in several states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The bank has received a very good response from the farmers in these states”, he added. All these centres were set up with the active cooperation of the respective state governments The FTCs have so far imparted training to over two lakh farmers and youths including over 40,000 women.