Noting that self-reliance is the solution to several difficulties facing the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that cooperatives were a very good model of self-dependence and this has been experienced very successfully in Gujarat.
Addressing leaders of cooperative institutions on 'Sahakar Se Samriddhi' at an event here after virtually inaugurating the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol, PM Modi said the government is doing all that is necessary in the interest of farmers and will continue to empower them.
"Self-reliance is the solution to several difficulties of the country and cooperatives are a very good model of self-reliance. We have experienced this very successfully in Gujarat and all of you are soldiers of this," he said.
He said Gujarat has been lucky as it got the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Sarda Patel. "The path of self-reliance through cooperatives that respected Bapu showed, it was translated on the ground by Sardar Patel. The example of the cooperative model of the dairy sector is in front of us. Today India is the largest milk producer in the country and Gujarat has a big contribution. In the past few years, the dairy sector has been growing and contributing to the rural economy," the Prime Minister said.
He said the milk-based industry expanded in Gujarat as the government imposed minimum restrictions. "The government here plays the role of facilitator, rest of the work is done by cooperatives like you or by farmers," he said.
Referring to the nano urea (Liquid) plant, he said power in a sack of urea has now been compressed into a bottle.
"Half a litre bottle of nano urea will meet the requirement of the farmers worth one sack. Imagine how much will transportation costs be reduced and benefit small farmers," the Prime Minister said.
He said such facilities will help reduce fertiliser imports.
"The plant that is inaugurated today has the capacity of producing 1.5 lakh bottles. Eight more such plants will come up in the country in the coming time. This would lead to the lessening of dependence on the urea imported from foreign countries. It would save the country's money. I hope that this innovation would not be limited to only nano urea. I believe that in the future, our farmers would get other nano fertilizers as well. Our scientists are working on the same," he said.
There are more than 84,000 societies in Gujarat in the cooperative sector and about 231 lakh members are associated with these societies.
( With inputs from ANI )
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