• The government has decided to establish three new national-level multi-state cooperative societies to promote organic products, seeds and exports.

• The national-level cooperative organic society, cooperative seed society and cooperative export society will be registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002.

• A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Cooperatives societies, including primary societies, district, state and national level federations, multi-state cooperative societies and Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs) can become members of these new cooperative societies. 

• All these cooperatives will have their elected representatives in the Board of the society as per its bye-laws.

• There are about 8.5 lakh registered cooperative societies in the country with 29 crore members.

National-level multi-state cooperative society for organic products

• It will be established for providing thrust to organic products from cooperative sector by acting as an umbrella organisation for managing various activities related to the organic sector.

• Primary to national level cooperatives societies including primary societies, district, state and national level federations, multi state cooperative societies and Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs) can become its Member.

• All these cooperatives will have their elected representatives in the Board of the society as per its bye-laws.

• The cooperative society will manage various activities related to organic sector by providing certified and authentic organic products. 

• It will help in unlocking demand and consumption potential of organic products in domestic as well as in global markets.

• This society will also help cooperatives and ultimately their farmer members in getting benefits of high price of organic products through aggregation, branding and marketing on a large scale by facilitating testing and certification at affordable cost.

• It will provide institutional support for aggregation, certification, testing, procurement, storage, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, logistic facilities, marketing of organic products and arranging financial assistance to the organic farmers.

• It will take up all promotion and development related activities of organic products with the help of various schemes and agencies of the government.

• It will empanel accredited organic testing labs and certification bodies who meet the criteria specified by the society to bring down the cost of testing and certification.

National-level multi-state seed cooperative society

• Production of quality seeds through national-level seed cooperative society will increase the agriculture production in the country, thereby leading to more employment in the agriculture and cooperative sector.

• It will reduce the dependence on imported seeds and provide a boost to rural economy.

• The seed cooperative society will act as an apex organisation for production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds.

• It will promote strategic research & development and also develop a system for preservation and promotion of indigenous natural seeds through various cooperative societies across the country with support from relevant ministries.

• The proposed society will help to increase the seed replacement rate, varietal replacement rate, ensuring the role of farmers in quality seed cultivation and seed variety trials, production and distribution of certified seeds with a single brand name, by utilising the network of all levels of cooperatives.

• The availability of quality seeds will help in increasing agricultural productivity in strengthening food security and also increasing the income of the farmers. 

• The members will benefit both by realisation of better prices by production of quality seeds, higher production of crops by use of High Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds and also by dividend distributed out of the surplus generated by the society.

• The seed cooperative society will involve all forms of cooperative structures and all other means to increase the Seed Replacement Rate (SRR), Varietal Replacement Rate (VRR) by ensuring the role of farmers in quality seed cultivation and seed variety trials, production and distribution of certified seeds with a single brand name.

National-level multi-state cooperative export society

• It will provide thrust to exports from the cooperative sector by acting as an umbrella organisation for carrying out and promoting exports. 

• It will also help cooperatives in getting benefits from various export-related schemes and policies of different ministries of the central government in a focused manner. 

• Basically, it will help unlock the export potential of Indian cooperatives in the global market. 

• Higher exports through the proposed society will increase production of goods and services by the cooperatives at various levels thus leading to more employment in the cooperative sector.

• Processing of goods and enhancing the services to match international standards will also generate additional employment.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store