NITI Aayog and ITC Ltd will collaborate in the agriculture and allied sectors in order to strengthen farming systems across 25 aspirational districts.
Launched by the Prime Minister in January, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to improve performance of these districts.
A Letter of Intent (LoI) for the partnership was signed by Yaduvendra Mathur, Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog, and Anil Rajput, Senior Vice-President – Corporate Affairs, ITC Ltd. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, was present on the occasion.
The 25 aspirational districts covers States of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand.
ITC will promote best practices and technologies, set-up demonstration farms and also create master trainers from government extension workers. Master trainers will be created at the block level. The company will also work out the logistics to ensure the farmers are trained even at the gram panchayat level.
NITI Aayog will work in close collaboration with the district administrations and ITC to build capacities, the FMCG major said in a release.
In order to ensure implementation, performance review and problem-solving, a Project Management Committee (PMC) at the district level will be set up. It is expected that over 2 lakh lead farmers (LF) in 25 districts will be trained as a part of the partnership.