[ DS Khuvei Olyson ]

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the country’s apex development financial institution for agriculture and rural development, celebrates its 45th foundation day, marking more than four decades of dedicated service to rural India.

Established on 12 July, 1982, the NABARD has grown far beyond its traditional role as a provider of rural credit and today stands as a unique institution combining finance, development, supervision, institution building and innovation.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the NABARD’s journey has been one of sustained partnership with the state government, banks, cooperative institutions, civil society organisations and, most importantly, rural communities. From building roads and bridges in remote areas to creating irrigation facilities, strengthening rural health and education infrastructure, nurturing tribal orchards, promoting farmer collectives, reviving natural springs, empowering women through self-help groups and taking unique indigenous products to wider markets, the NABARD’s footprint in the state reflects the diversity, potential and aspirations of Arunachal itself.

In a geographically challenging state like Arunachal, where connectivity and infrastructure are fundamental to economic opportunity, the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) has emerged as one of the NABARD’s most significant contributions. Under the RIDF, the NABARD has sanctioned 534 projects to the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, involving cumulative assistance of Rs 5,116.46 crore. Through the RIDF, the NABARD has partnered with the Government of Arunachal Pradesh in creating critical infrastructure encompassing rural roads and bridges, irrigation, drinking water, flood protection, soil conservation, health facilities, educational institutions and other essential public assets. These investments have done more than create physical infrastructure. A road connects a farmer to a market, a bridge connects a child to a school, an irrigation channel gives a family the confidence to cultivate another crop, and a rural health facility brings essential care closer to communities living in remote areas. This is the larger purpose that guides the NABARD’s infrastructure financing in the state.

Credit remains the lifeblood of rural economic activity. Through refinance support to eligible banks and financial institutions, the NABARD facilitates greater flow of institutional credit to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, farm mechanisation, food processing, rural enterprises and other priority sectors. As a development financial institution, the NABARD also performs an important supervisory role over regional rural banks and cooperative banks, helping strengthen governance, compliance, financial soundness and the overall rural credit delivery architecture. Its role extends to grassroots credit planning through district-level potential linked credit plans and the state focus paper, which assess local potential and help translate available resources and opportunities into actionable credit strategies.

The NABARD has strengthened agricultural credit flow through refinance support to the Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank, with cumulative sanctions of Rs 109.56 crore for short-term agricultural loans and Rs 86.05 crore for long-term agricultural loans.

Financial inclusion remains central to the NABARD’s development efforts. Through the SHG-bank linkage programme, promotion of joint liability groups, financial literacy initiatives, capacity building and support for digital financial inclusion, the NABARD continues to facilitate greater participation of women, small and marginal farmers and underserved rural households in the formal financial system. Across rural India, the SHG movement has demonstrated how access to savings, credit and collective action can transform lives, and in Arunachal, women-led institutions continue to emerge as important drivers of social and economic change. The NABARD has provided support of Rs 2,890.22 lakh for various financial inclusion initiatives in the state.

The NABARD has consistently recognised that the future of small and marginal farmers lies in collective strength. Seventeen farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) promoted and supported by the NABARD in Arunachal are enabling farmers to aggregate produce, procure inputs collectively, improve processing and value addition, access institutional finance and negotiate better terms in the marketplace. The effort is not merely to organise farmers, but to help them build viable, professionally managed and sustainable rural enterprises.

Through capacity building, business planning, market linkages and credit facilitation, the NABARD seeks to transform farmers from individual producers into active stakeholders in the larger agricultural value chain.

Arunachal’s tribal communities possess generations of knowledge about forests, farming, biodiversity and natural resources. The NABARD’s Tribal Development Fund interventions, popularly known as WADI or TRIBES projects, build upon this deep relationship between people and land. Through orchard-based livelihood development, participating tribal families are supported in establishing sustainable plantations suited to local agro-climatic conditions, complemented by intercropping, soil and water conservation, livestock development, capacity building and community institutions. Crops such as arecanut, citrus, spices and other locally suitable horticultural species are helping create long-term livelihood assets for tribal households. A WADI is more than an orchard; it is a patient investment in a family’s future – combining income, nutrition, natural resource conservation and dignity.

As concerns over soil health, rising input costs and climate variability grow, the NABARD is promoting agroecological and natural farming approaches through its JIVA programme. In Arunachal, the initiative encourages farmers to reduce dependence on external chemical inputs and rediscover locally adapted farming practices based on healthy soil, biodiversity and efficient use of natural resources. Practices involving Jeevamrit, Beejamrit, Ghanjeevamrit, biomass recycling and diversified cropping are being demonstrated at the field level. The objective is not simply to replace one set of inputs with another, but to rebuild the ecological foundations of agriculture and make farming more resilient and economically sustainable.

The NABARD’s development approach also embraces appropriate technology and innovation. Initiatives involving the Internet of Things (IoT), digital tools and emerging technologies in agriculture have the potential to help farmers make better decisions through real-time information on soil moisture, weather conditions, irrigation requirements and crop health. In a state where farms are dispersed and extension services face geographical challenges, technology can help bridge distances. The NABARD’s endeavour is to ensure that innovation remains practical, affordable and relevant to farmers, rather than becoming technology for technology’s sake.

The NABARD has sanctioned assistance of Rs 2,853.27 lakh towards various initiatives in the farm sector in Arunachal.

For Arunachal, climate change is not an abstract future concern. Changing rainfall patterns, extreme weather events, soil erosion, drying water sources and pressures on traditional farming systems are increasingly visible realities. The NABARD, with its extensive experience in climate finance and natural resource management, is supporting interventions aimed at strengthening the resilience of rural communities. Springshed development and water rejuvenation initiatives are particularly important in the Himalayan landscape. By scientifically treating recharge zones, undertaking soil and water conservation measures and mobilising communities around the protection of natural water sources, such interventions seek to revive springs, enhance groundwater recharge and improve water security.

The NABARD’s wider natural resource management approach also encompasses watershed development, climate-resilient agriculture, biodiversity conservation, efficient water use and community-based management of natural resources. The underlying principle is simple: rural prosperity cannot be sustained without ecological security.

Arunachal possesses an extraordinary wealth of indigenous agricultural produce, handloom traditions, handicrafts, food products and cultural knowledge. The NABARD has been actively supporting the promotion of geographical indications (GI) as a means of protecting this rich heritage while creating economic opportunities for producer communities. Eighteen GI products have received GI certification with the NABARD’s support; 18 more products are in the pipeline. From unique rice varieties and textiles to traditional crafts and agricultural products, GI registration can help establish authenticity, preserve community knowledge and strengthen market identity.

However, registration is only the beginning. The NABARD’s efforts increasingly focus on the journey beyond the GI tag-producer organisation, authorized user registration, branding, packaging, traceability, quality assurance and market linkage, so that the benefits ultimately reach the artisans and farmers who have preserved these traditions for generations.

Producing more is meaningful only when farmers, artisans and rural entrepreneurs can sell better. The NABARD’s marketing interventions seek to bridge the gap between rural producers and consumers through rural haats, rural marts, exhibitions, melas, buyer-seller meets and other market linkage platforms. Rural haats provide permanent, organised spaces where farmers, women SHGs, artisans and small producers can sell their products directly, while rural marts offer producer groups an opportunity to maintain a regular market presence and build lasting relationships with consumers. Buyer-seller meets connect grassroots enterprises with institutional buyers, traders and larger markets.

These interventions reflect a fundamental shift from viewing rural people merely as beneficiaries to recognising them as producers, entrepreneurs and active market participants.

Agriculture alone cannot absorb the aspirations of a young and increasingly educated rural population. The NABARD therefore places considerable emphasis on rural MSMEs and the off-farm sector through skill development, enterprise promotion and livelihood programmes. Micro enterprise development programmes, livelihood and enterprise development programmes, and skill development programmes have supported rural youths and women in activities ranging from food processing, bakery and tailoring to handicrafts and other locally viable enterprises. The emphasis is on linking skills with entrepreneurship, credit and markets, so that training translates into sustainable livelihoods.

The NABARD’s support to rural entrepreneurship also recognises the immense potential of local resources, traditional skills and emerging value chains in creating meaningful employment close to home. Support of Rs 963.78 lakh for the off-farm sector and Rs 245.95 lakh for skill development and capacity building has been granted by the NABARD in the state.

Cooperatives have a special relevance in Arunachal, particularly in reaching remote communities and enabling collective economic action. The NABARD continues to support the strengthening of cooperative institutions, including Large-sized Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS), through capacity building, governance improvement, business diversification, computerisation and institutional development. Strong cooperatives can serve as vibrant grassroots economic institutions, providing credit, inputs, aggregation, storage, processing, and marketing services. Strengthening these institutions is therefore not merely an administrative exercise; it is an investment in community-owned rural enterprise. Fourteen LAMPS in the state have been computerised with support from the NABARD.

Across the NABARD’s interventions, women are not peripheral beneficiaries but central agents of change. Through SHGs, livelihood programmes, financial literacy, enterprise development and market support, rural women are gaining greater access to finance, skills, income opportunities and collective platforms. The transformation is often quiet but profound: a woman opening her first bank account, an SHG launching a micro enterprise, a producer displaying her products at a rural mart, or a group of women collectively negotiating with a buyer. These individual stories, multiplied across villages, form the real measure of inclusive development.

The NABARD’s work in Arunachal has always been anchored in partnership-with the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, banks, cooperative institutions, universities, research and technical institutions, NGOs, FPOs, SHGs and community-based organisations. The state’s unique geography, cultural diversity and ecological richness require development solutions that are locally grounded, rather than uniformly imposed. The NABARD’s approach has therefore been to combine finance with field-level development, traditional knowledge with appropriate technology, and institution building with community participation.

As the NABARD enters its 45th year, the challenges before rural India are changing. Climate change, market volatility, technological disruption and the aspirations of rural youths demand new responses. Yet the institution’s fundamental purpose remains unchanged: to make rural development more inclusive, resilient and sustainable. For Arunachal, the road ahead holds immense possibilities in high-value agriculture and horticulture, organic and natural farming, GI products, eco-tourism, food processing, bamboo, handloom and handicrafts, renewable energy, rural enterprises and technology-enabled agriculture.

On its 45th foundation day, the NABARD renews its commitment to walk alongside the people of Arunachal, building infrastructure, strengthening institutions, nurturing enterprise, protecting natural resources and enabling rural communities to shape their own pathways to prosperity.

Because when a village prospers, a state grows stronger; and when rural India moves forward, the nation moves forward. (The writer is assistant manager, NABARD regional office, Itanagar)