Parliament Question: Promoting Agriculture Cooperatives in Hilly Areas

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 1573 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28th JULY 2026 Promoting Agriculture Cooperatives in Hilly Areas *1573. Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat:

Will the Minister of COOPERATION (सहकारिता मंत्री) be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is implementing any special scheme or providing assistance to promote cooperative agriculture, horticulture and marketing of allied products in the hilly States including Uttarakhand;

(b) if so, the details of financial, technical and marketing assistance being provided thereunder, State-wise;

(c)the number of cooperative societies and farmers benefited from the said schemes so far; and

(d) the additional steps being taken by the Government to provide access to National and International markets to the products of the hilly areas? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH)

(a) to (d):

(i) Yes Sir, the Ministry of Cooperation is providing assistance to promote cooperative agriculture, horticulture and marketing of allied products in hilly States, including Uttarakhand through National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), a statutory corporation under the Ministry of Cooperation. The State-wise details of financial assistance disbursed by NCDC during the last five years (2021-22 to 2025-26) to the hilly States/UTs, including Uttarakhand, are provided at Annexure-I.

(ii) Establishment of new offices of NCDC in hilly and remote areas, including Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Nagaland in addition to already existing offices in Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to improve service delivery and market support.

Page 1 of 4(iii) Ministry of Cooperation has established Bhartiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL), a multi-state cooperative society to provide quality, certified and affordable seeds to farmers.

So far, BBSSL has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and Uttarakhand for expanding the availability and marketing of quality seeds under the “Bharat Beej” brand across these states. 2,488 quintals of quality, certified and affordable seeds have been provided to the farmers in Uttarakhand thereby improving their access to quality seeds.

(iv) The steps taken by the Government to provide access to National and International markets to the products of hilly areas inter alia, include the following: • Establishment of National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL) as an umbrella organization to export the goods and services of cooperative societies. So far, NCEL has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and Uttarakhand to provide access to international markets to the products of the hilly areas.

• Establishment of National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) as an umbrella organization for the procurement, aggregation, certification, testing, branding and marketing of organic produce. So far, NCOL has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and Uttarakhand to provide market access to the organic products of the hilly areas. NCOL has procured around 417 Metric Ton organic wheat, 40 Metric Ton organic Basmati and 30 Metric Ton Sweeteners including Jaggery, Khandsari and Brown Sugar from organic certified farmers of Uttarakhand.

(v) The member cooperative societies of BBSSL, NCEL, and NCOL benefit from access to quality, certified, and affordable seeds; assistance in quality testing and certification; access to national and international markets; better price realization for their produce; and dividends on their shareholding. The state-wise number of cooperative societies that have obtained membership in BBSSL, NCEL and NCOL is provided at Annexure-II.

***** Page 2 of 4Annexure-I The State-wise details of financial assistance disbursed by NCDC during the last five years (2021-22 to 2025-26) to the hilly States/UTs S.No. Name of the State Disbursal from NCDC Amount (Rs in Cr) 1 Arunachal Pradesh 1.24 2 Assam 28.19 3 Himachal Pradesh 40.15 4 Jammu & Kashmir 6.15 5 Ladakh 0.88 6 Manipur 38.37 7 Meghalaya 2.14 8 Mizoram 11.87 9 Nagaland 3.49 10 Sikkim 1.96 11 Tripura 20.56 12 Uttarakhand 287.95 Total 422.95 Page 3 of 4Annexure-II The state-wise number of cooperative societies obtained membership in BBSSL, NCEL and NCOL S.No. Name of the State BBSSL NCEL NCOL 1 Arunachal Pradesh 15 12 13 2 Assam 94 18 1 3 Himachal Pradesh 469 145 139 4 Jammu & Kashmir 176 30 10 5 Ladakh 12 6 4 6 Manipur 48 44 43 7 Meghalaya 3 0 0 8 Mizoram 8 5 5 9 Nagaland 6 0 1 10 Sikkim 119 2 15 11 Tripura 165 114 105 12 Uttarakhand 551 487 387 Page 4 of 4