Among other areas, SAHAKAR 22 emphasizes on the basic and chronic issues challenging the relevance of cooperatives in today’s business environment i.e., development, strengthening and transformation of the primary level cooperatives as multi-purpose and new generation institution in farm, non- farm and service sector, so as to cater to the various needs of the farming community.

rimary cooperatives are the backbone of the cooperative sector. For nurturing these primary cooperatives, officials at the Regional Offices of NCDC visit the primary cooperatives in their jurisdiction. During the visit, the officials build a rapport and understand the needs of the society, challenges, expectations, opportunities and other ground realities. Further, the information collected is filled online and the database is of immense value for formulation of schemes, research and development purpose, planning, policy matters etc. A total of 4911 primary cooperatives all over the country were visited during the financial year 2019-20.

Under the action plans - “Niryat Sahakar” and “Facilitate ease of doing cooperative business”, NCDC has been aggressively promoting a conducive eco-system for business, business diversification, export, trade and marketing through various channels and platforms. In this context, it is pertinent to mention that NCDC in association with NEDAC along with leading organizations in India organised the first ever India International Cooperatives Trade Fair (IICTF) at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from 11 -13 October, 2019. This is conceived as a major platform to promote exports of Indian key agriculture commodities and products as per the goals set under the Agriculture Export Policy, 2018. The event offers huge opportunity for cooperatives and business houses from India and abroad to build alliances, business networking, product sourcing and above all, interacting with the primary producers of a wide range of products and service providers. The event was packed with B2B/Cooperative 2Cooperative (C2C) meetings, exhibitions, conferences and cultural programmes and was visited by many VVIPS and foreign dignitaries. There were 192 exhibitors (145 Indian and 47 Foreign) and 141 B2B/C2C meetings were held and attended by 129 foreign visitors. The IICTF saw a foot fall of more than 35,000 visitors. In all, 75 business agreements were signed amounting to a value of USD 1.2 billion approximately.