Port Blair, Nov 26: A Regional Workshop on Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS) for South Andaman district was conducted on 24 November 2015 by NABARD, A & N RO at Hotel Sun Sea, Port Blair to create awareness about the scheme among the bankers. The workshop was inaugurated by lighting of lamp by Dr. S. Dam Roy, Director, CIARI, Dr. G. S. Pande, Director, Department of Agriculture, Mr Ravinder Rao, MD, A&NStCB, Mr Gautam Chakraborty, Director, R-Seti, SBI and Dr. Bardhan, Senior Veterinary Officer, Department of Animal Husbandry and Mr H. B. Songadkar, GM/OIC, NABARD, A&N RO, Port Blair. The workshop was well attended by bankers and other officials from the Government departments of South Andaman district.
In his address, Dr Dam Roy expressed his concern over the low productivity of milk and fodder scarcity. He also stated that quality of the breed needs to be improved in the Islands. A presentation was made on the guidelines of the scheme. This was followed by an interactive session with the bankers where the bankers and the officials from the Government departments interacted on many issues related to dairy and finance.
Mr Gautam Chakraborty stated that milch animals are in less numbers in the UT and therefore dairy projects should be financed more by the bankers. Mr Ravinder Rao was of the view that there is more scope for DEDS in A & N Islands and also for by-products of milk and milk processing. Dr. Bardhan briefed about the ground realities of the dairy sector in the Islands and suggested that for successful implementation of the project, will of the entrepreneur, knowledge and finance is of utmost importance. Dr. G. S. Pande shared his views on the challenges faced by the Agriculture and Dairy Sector in the Islands, opportunities available and strategy for overcoming the challenges. He assured of all the assistance required from his department, if any.
Welcoming the gathering, Mr Songadkar highlighted the objectives of the workshop has indicated that the scheme is very popular in the main land and needs to be popularized in the A & N Islands. He has solicited the support of each and every branch manager in implementing DEDS and pointed out that banks can consider this scheme as one of the avenues for enhancing their term lending which can result in capital formation, asset creation and employment generation
