Bhopal: Panchayat and Rural Development Minister, Shri Mahendra Singh Sisodia has said that Madhya Pradesh will be the first state in the country to implement the “Sathi (Sustainable Agriculture Through Holistic Integration) Project”. This project will prove to be effective in fulfilling the government’s goal of doubling the income of farmers, as well as in fulfilling the dream of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan of self-reliant India and self-reliant Madhya Pradesh. .
Minister Shri Sisodia directed that the scheme should be given a practical form, so that farmers should get its maximum benefit. He directed the nodal agency of the scheme, NAFED, to prepare a detailed action plan and send it to the Central Government and from there to get funding for it. Initially, the scheme will be implemented as a pilot project in 10 development blocks of 5 districts of the state. Minister Shri Sisodia was taking a meeting related to Sathi Project in Mantralaya today.
Plan for 100 development blocks of 26 districts
In the presentation related to the plan, Shri Manish Shrivastava of NAFED said that in the first phase, this scheme has been prepared for 26 districts of the state namely Guna, Satna, Ashoknagar, Gwalior, Rewa, Morena, Alirajpur, Balaghat, Barwani, Chhatarpur, Dhar, Panna, Rajgarh, Sheopur, Shahdol, Shivpuri, Tikamgarh, Jhabua, Sehore, Katni, Raisen, Anuppur, Seoni, Dewas, Umaria, including 100 development blocks of Damoh. Under the scheme, 100 Sathi markets, 7319 warehouses, 2133 cold storages, 405 grading units and 2126 agricultural product processing units will be set up. An estimated expenditure of about Rs 3 thousand 380 crore will be made on these.
Project will have 5 components
The 5 components of the “Sathi” scheme will be Sathi Farmer Group, Sathi Processing Centre, Sathi Udyog, Sathi Market and Common Facility Centre. Groups of farmers with similar production will be formed in the villages. The work of storage of products and primary value addition will be done by the Sathi processing centres at the Panchayat level. Small industries based on local products will be set up at the block level. Sathi markets will be created at the block level for marketing. Common Facility Centres will be set up at the divisional level for the processing of products, packaging, research, training etc.
Modern retail outlet
The Sathi markets to be set up at the block level will be modern retail outlets, which will be built on 4,000 square feet. In these, warehouses, cold storages, training centres, hostels, shops, banks, food courts, dairy, game zones etc. will be built.
Additional Chief Secretary Shri Ashok Varnwal, Additional Chief Secretary Shri JN Kansotia, Principal Secretary Shri Umakant Umrao and concerned officers were present.
