With more than 23,000 cooperative societies and a long cooperative tradition, the southern state of Keralam has one of India’s strongest cooperative movements. Now the country’s Cooperation Minister wants it to look to the sea.
Speaking in Kundara, Kollam district, on 26 September, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation Amit Shah urged the state’s cooperatives to make the most of its long coastline and famous backwaters.
“Keralam, with its extensive coastline and network of backwaters, has immense potential in the blue economy. The cooperative sector should tap opportunities in fish production, processing, packaging, branding and exports,” he said.
The Minister praised the state’s cooperative history, noting that the regions of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar had well-organised cooperative movements even before India’s independence. He said the central government was “ready to extend all possible support for the development of the sector in the state”, and invited the state’s cooperation minister to Delhi to discuss the sector’s challenges.
He also highlighted the role of cooperatives in empowering women. Around 800,000 women farmers are linked to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and 600,000 to the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF).
The visit also saw the launch of several NCCF and Nafed initiatives under the theme “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” (Prosperity through Cooperation), including mobile vans selling subsidised onions, new cooperative shops, scholarships and the distribution of seed kits to farmers.
