Agriculture Minister inaugurates STREE Dissemination Summit-2024

Ludhiana, February 5, 2024: Punjab Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian on Monday said that Women Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) had a crucial role in agriculture development and empowerment with their significant economic contribution. 

While inaugurating a STREE Dissemination summit-2024 by Grant Thornton Bharat and HDFC Bank's Parivartan, the Minister said that the Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab government was working sincerely for the economic empowerment of the women of the state and regular efforts were being made in this direction. He said that FPCs were emerging as a powerful catalyst for rural development and women's empowerment and underlined the need to encourage the establishment of more such FPCs by starting a special drive in the villages. 

The Minister also assured fulsome support to women FPCs in the further growth of their business. Lauding Grant Thornton Bharat and HDFC Bank's Parivartan, he also honoured the 25 women members of FPCs in Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Moga and Barnala who have undergone training of drone pilots. 

MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu also hailed the women FPCs and said that the Punjab government is committed to the economic development of women. 

Director Industry DPS Kharbanda also spoke about the STREE project and said that it had registered 16 Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and emphasized the importance of empowering women farmers and promoting sustainable agricultural practices through the project's initiatives including distributing high-quality seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers at fair prices, training women to become drone pilots, facilitating bank linkages and credit connections, and constructing essential infrastructure like storage godowns and retail outlets. 

During the summit, Prof. V. Padmanand, Manpreet Singh and Kundan Kumar gave an overview of the project's interventions and their potential for scalability.  They said that the STREE project aimed to extend its benefits to at least 25,000 beneficiaries in the forthcoming year, to foster the economic empowerment of women. 

Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included ADC (G) Ojasvi Alankar, Dr Ranjeet Singh, Bal Mukand Sharma, Hanuman Sahay, Harmel Singh Sandhu and others.