Agro business synergy to boost farm-based industries in North Bengal

MP | 17 May 2017 | Kolkata:In a bid to give an impetus to farm and farm-based industries in North Bengal and significantly widen markets for entrepreneurs, the Department of Industry, Commerce and Enterprises (IC&E) in collaboration with various other departments will hold a two-day agro business synergy – Focus North Bengal — on May 18 and 19 in Siliguri.

The state government is conducting the conference in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Food and Agriculture Centre for Excellence (FACE). It may be recalled that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Alipurduar and Cooch Behar earlier this month had requested the members of different chambers of commerce to attend the two-day meeting.

The other government departments that are taking part in the two-day meeting are the departments of Agriculture, Agri Marketing, Food Processing & Horticulture, Animal Resource Development, Food & Supplies, Fisheries, Biotechnology, North Bengal Development Department and Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA).

The inaugural session will be addressed by two ministers, Gautam Deb and Rabindranath Ghosh and bureaucrats including Rajiva Sinha, additional chief secretary, department of IC&E, Sanjeev Chopra, additional chief secretary, department t of Agriculture, Pradip Mazumdar, adviser to the Chief Minister on agriculture and allied sectors, Barun Ray, principal secretary, department of North Bengal development, B P Gopalika, principal secretary, Animal Resources Development, Nandini Chakrabarty, secretary, Food Processing & Horticulture; Sunil Kumar Gupta, principal secretary, Fishery, Vivek Kumar, principal secretary, Bio Technology, Depap Priya, CEO, SJDA, DIC; and eight district magistrates.

"North Bengal shares borders with Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. That's reason why CII is trying to make sure the produces and products reach the markets of these countries. South-East Asian countries and the Middle East are also on the radar. We expect some 1,000-plus potential investors," Smita Pandit Chakraborty, Chairperson, CII West Bengal, said in a statement.

"Some highlights of Focus North Bengal are individual help desks for the eight North Bengal districts and financial service help desks to be set up by SBI, Central Bank, NABARD, and West Bengal Financial Corporation (WBFC)," said Rajiv Lochan, Chairman, CII North Bengal Zonal Council.