Dehradun: In a noble gesture, Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi refused agricultural produce gifted to him by the Horticulture Department and instead bought them paying the cost. Joshi inaugurated a store for the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme store (PM FME) located at Rajpur Road. This store has been created by the Horticulture Department to provide a modern marketing platform for the products of small entrepreneurs in the state. Apart from Dehradun, very soon stores will be established in Mussoorie and Nainital.
On the occasion, the Horticulture Department gifted the products to Minister Ganesh Joshi, but the Minister refused the gifts. “I am the head of the department and I will use the products of my farmers not by gift, but by giving them their value. This initiative of mine will boost the initiative of buying farmers' products,” Joshi said.
The Agriculture Minister said that the scheme is “revolutionary” to provide a market for the products of small and medium food processing entrepreneurs. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme, entrepreneurs are being benefited from 35 per cent government assistance for setting up micro food industries from this centrally funded scheme. Apart from this, technical and financial support is being provided by the government for the marketing and branding of the products of the cultivators/groups under the scheme.
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In Uttarakhand, so far, loans have been sanctioned from banks for the establishment of 19 micro food industries under the PM-FME scheme. Under the PM-FME scheme, priority is being given to one district, one product. By promoting horticulture in the form of a cluster, the product can be easily and in proper quantity is available for marketing.
Under the PMFME scheme, a target has been set to establish 1,591 units in Uttarakhand during the financial year 2024-25. Under 'One District, One Product' units based on bakery products are being set up in Dehradun. The first store has been established at Rajpur Road, Dehradun under the PM FME scheme for the sale of various industrial products of small/marginal farmers, self-help groups, cooperative groups and farmer producer organisations.
Its purpose is to provide a market for the products of farmers/groups by branding their products to get a fair price. On one hand, farmers will get a fair price for their products through the PM FME store. On the other hand, consumers will be able to get high-quality products based on food safety standards. On the lines of the stores established in Dehradun, stores will be established in Mussoorie and Nainital very soon.
