As a joint initiative of Agriculture Ministry and industry chamber FICCI to promote public-private partnership (PPP) in the farm sector, a Project Management Unit (PMU) was launched on Thursday by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

Emphasising the need for a strong agriculture sector as it will also help boost other sectors, Tomar said that the PPP model can be an ideal one for growth in farm sector and such projects must focus on benefiting the farmers through enhancement of their income.

FICCI’s role under the joint initiative will be to reach out to the private sector and facilitate submission of proposals for PPP projects in the farm sector. Besides, it will identify government schemes which could be directly or indirectly leveraged by its members and also will monitor the private and PPP investments in the farm sector.

The role of the Ministry will be to inform the States about this partnership and the creation of PMU and also to co-ordinate with the State governments for getting the proposals approved in private sector.

The minister urged the private sector to ensure that the inputs should not be sold to farmers at high profits. Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja said that private sector and NGOs should come together and partner with government on projects which will have a multiplier effect, according to a statement by FICCI.

“The primary objective of this PPP initiative is to enhance the income of small farmers by creating additional value, from provisioning of quality inputs, technology extension to market linkages, and value addition. PPP initiatives are also expected to lead to modernizing agriculture practices, building climate resilience among farmers, developing agriculture and rural infrastructure, and increasing agricultural exports,” FICCI said.

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