Bihar Minister Dr. Prem Kumar Studies Cooperative Model in Erode, Commits to New Steps for Better Prices for Farmers

The Bihar government under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, has taken many important steps in the agriculture and cooperative sector. On the initiative of the Chief Minister, many schemes have been implemented to strengthen the state's cooperative sector and get the farmers the right price for their products. In this direction, Hon'ble Minister of the Cooperative Department of the Government of Bihar Dr. Prem Kumar visited the state of Tamil Nadu and inspected the Erode Agricultural Producer Cooperative Society. This visit can prove to be an important step towards establishing new dimensions for the development of the cooperative sector in Bihar.

On January 02, 2025, the Hon'ble Minister along with his team of Cooperative Department visited the Erode Agricultural Producer Cooperative Society of Tamil Nadu. During this, while observing the activities of the committee, he talked about implementing its model in Bihar as well. There should be a good system of marketing and processing of local products in the cooperative institutions of Tamil Nadu so that the committees are in profit and are doing good business. He said that the newly formed FPO in Bihar. The preparations are being made to market and process local products in PACS. Specific things are produced in different parts of the state. This needs to be promoted, therefore, the cooperative societies of the state can benefit by conceptualizing the working system of these cooperative societies of Tamil Nadu. 

While visiting Erode Agricultural Producer Cooperative Marketing Committee Ltd., he met with the chairman and members there. The chairman of the committee informed that the committee is run by an elected board and a managing director (MD) who is an officer of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Department. The committee is distributing an annual dividend of 14% to its members. The committee is in annual net profit of about Rs 1.5 crore (after distribution of dividend). Erode district is very famous for its turmeric cultivation which has also got GI tag. The committee mainly provides market to the member farmers for the sale of their turmeric produce and helps the farmers to get the best price for their produce. The Samiti has developed an e-bidding portal through which institutional buyers place bids for bags of turmeric (65 kg per bag). If the farmer is satisfied with the price, he goes ahead with the sale. All bidding is anonymous to promote fairness. Thereafter, immediate payment is made to the farmer by the Samiti within 24 hours of successful bidding. The buyer is given 14 days to take delivery of turmeric and make payment to the Samiti. 

The Samiti has a warehouse storage facility of about 17000 MT. Farmer members are not charged any fee for storing turmeric for a certain period. Apart from the warehouse, the Samiti also has a sorting facility where turmeric is sorted on the basis of quality before being put up for e-bidding. For all these services, i.e. e-bidding, storage, sorting and grading etc., farmers are charged a nominal fee of 1.5% on the total sale.

The society also has a processing unit where turmeric and other ingredients are converted into turmeric powder, sambhar masala, chicken masala etc. which are packed and sold under the brand “Mangalam”. The cost of this processing and packing unit is about Rs. 60 to 65 lakhs.

There is also a consumer outlet in the society premises where Mangalam brand and other cooperative society products are sold. The daily sales of this outlet is about Rs. 7000. Mangalam spices are also distributed through PDS and Primary Consumer Cooperative outlets throughout the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Hon’ble Minister was accompanied by Shri Lalan Sharma, Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Shri Safdar Rahman, Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies and other officials during the visit.