Market committees’ turnover up fivefold in 20 years: Govt

Gandhinagar: With International Cooperative Day on Saturday, the state govt said remarkable progress has been made in the cooperatives sector of Gujarat in the last two decades. Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah, who will be on a two-day visit to the state from Saturday, will preside over a national-level programme, Sahkar Se Samriddhi, in Gandhinagar to mark the day.
A state govt statement said there has been a 500% increase in the turnover of market committees, going from Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 42,000 crore in 20 years, while their income rose from Rs 72.80 crore to Rs 460 crore. The storage capacity of market committee godowns has expanded from 4.33 lakh metric tonnes to 13.46 lakh metric tonnes.
The statement added that the number of milk societies increased from 10,636 to 16,000. Daily milk collection has grown from 62 lakh litres to 290 lakh litres and the turnover of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation has increased from Rs 2,366 crore to Rs 61,000 crore. The average price of buying milk from cattle farmers has also increased by 300%, the statement said.
The govt paid an interest subsidy of Rs 1,612 crore on crop loans in 2023, compared to Rs 124 crore in 2014-15. In the 2024-25 financial year, an interest subsidy of Rs 877 crore has been paid to farmers on crop loans, the statement said.
The govt said on Friday that 412 organic farming co-operative societies have been formed. Modernization and strengthening of 5,754 primary agricultural credit societies has been taken up in the first phase, with plans to provide computer hardware and software, the statement said.
The statement said deposits of cooperative banks and credit societies have risen from Rs 16,506 crore and Rs 410 crore respectively to Rs 75,000 crore and Rs 2,900 crore.