News:The 6th World Congress on Rural and Agricultural Finance (WCRAF) began in New Delhi on November 12, 2019.
Facts:
About the World Congress:
- The World Congress is held at regular intervals of 3 year period.The first Congress was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2005.
- It aims at bringing together stakeholders of rural and agricultural finance all over the world.The Congress is an opportunity to strengthen business relations and to promote products and services.
- The 6th WCRAF is co-hosted by NABARD, Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
- The theme of the conference is “Rural and Agricultural Finance:Critical Input to achieve Inclusive and Sustainable Development”.
Objectives of the conference:
- To promote Global value chains in agriculture
- To help in tackling food security
- To ensure agriculture is in line with sustainability, natural resource conservation and social harmony.
- To achieve the objective the financial institutions should constantly evolve innovatively to provide rural people stable and constant financial services.
Additional information:
About APRACA:
- Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) is a regional association that promotes cooperation and facilitates mutual exchange of information and expertise in the field of rural finance.
- Currently,it has a total of 86 institutions in 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region that are affiliated with the APRACA as its members.The General Secretariat of APRACA is located in Bangkok,Thailand.
- APRACA along with NENARACA (Near East – North Africa Agricultural Credit Association) and AFRACA(African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association) were established with the help of FAO following the 1975 World Conference on Agricultural Credit.
About NABARD:
- The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex development financial institution in India.NABARD was established in 1982 to implement the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981.
- NABARD was entrusted with matters concerning policy,planning and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and other economic activities in rural areas in India.
- Recently,the Reserve Bank had divested its stake in National Housing Bank (NHB) and National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard), by making them fully government-owned.
