India is strengthening its hold in international agricultural market while majority (approximately 86 percent) of its farmers have small or marginal holdings of land and continue to live with drudgeries of agriculture, trapped in vicious poverty cycle. The proposed creation of ten thousand new Farmers’ Producer Organizations (FPOs) until 2023-24 by the government is a grand step in the right direction. Empowerment of farmers will certainly strengthen the rural economy as these FPOs are expected to not only help in agricultural progress but also create new avenues for the development.
FPOs are member based farmers’ institutions imperative to feed the growing population of the world with shrinking resources and changing climate. Besides India, countries like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia etc. have also adopted the FPO approach.
Government with an aim to make this initiative a success is providing necessary policy support. Going forward, the Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ministry has recently released a booklet on new operational guidelines for formation and promotion of these FPOs.The union government is discussing key challenges over implementation with the respective state governments.
The support to each FPO is to be continued for 5 years at an overall cost of Rs. 6,866 crores. The minimum number of members in the FPOs would be 300 in the plains and 100 in the North-East and hilly areas. The FPOs which are being formed for the benefit of small, marginal and landless farmers, will be managed in such a way that these farmers get access to technological inputs, finances, and better markets and prices for their crops, so as to fulfil the target of doubling farmers’ incomes by the year 2022 as envisaged by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The FPOs will help to reduce the cost of production and marketing, and also help to improve production in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. This will also help to increase employment opportunities.
Recently the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Narendra Singh Tomar stated that in the Budget 2020-21, there is a proposal to adopt cluster approach for horticultural produce through “One district – One Product” scheme so as to give a fillip to value addition, marketing and exports. "This is a central scheme, whose total budget is Rs. 6,865 crores. All FPOs will be provided professional support and handholding for 5 years. 15% of the FPOs are to be constituted in aspirational districts, and will be formed on priority basis in scheduled tribal areas. This is a produce cluster based scheme. The FPOs will also boost organic and natural farming," the Minister informed.
Government rightly plans the implementation of scheme through agencies like NABARD, SFAC and NCDC. They will be provided facility of equity grant upto Rs. 15 lakh on matching equity basis for financial stability. There will be credit guarantee fund with NABARD and NCDC, under which suitable credit guarantee up to Rs.2 crores per FPO will be provided. Understanding the importance of capacity building, training and skill development of the stakeholders, there is a provision to provide training in organizational management, resource planning, marketing and processing through national and regional level institutions.
14 Nov 2024