SBI inks pact with NAFED to finance seed production

New Delhi, June 27 (UNI) State Bank of India today entered tied up with National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) for financing seed production of various crops to be procured by the latter.

Under the agreement, the bank will also look after cultivation of different crops to be procured by NAFED for commercial trading.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed here between SBI (Corporate Centre, Mumbai) Chief General Manager Anup Banerji and NAFED Managing Director Alok Ranjan.

The memorandum constitutes a broad understanding between SBI and NAFED to finance farmers for production and cultivation of various crops including soyabean, paddy, jute and potato.

NAFED will operate through a consolidating agency and about 10,000 acres of area will be covered in the contract farming arrangement.

The agreement would give boost to the seed production and cultivation of various crops to be procured by NAFED and would also facilitate easy availability of high yielding seed varieties of seeds to farmers, a SBI statement said here.

The MoU would be applicable in Mumbai, Hyderabad, North-East, Delhi, Chennai and Bhopal circles of SBI and financing would be done by a large number of SBI branches located in these circles.

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