Cluster-based organizations will play a key role in doubling FPOs

Cluster-based business units with farmer producer organizations could play a significant role in doubling farmers’ incomes, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Kailash Chowdhury said on Tuesday.

The Minister was speaking at the inauguration of a regional conference for CBBOs (cluster-based business entities) and FPOs (agro-producers) under the central government’s 10,000 FPO project in Panchkula, Haryana.

Chowdhury said that in order to make farmers self-reliant and double their income, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized on “all-together-all-development-all-faith-all-efforts” and FPO has an important role to play in this endeavor and can assist the CBBO. . Introduction to this work.

Chowdhury, according to an official statement, asked the CBBO representatives to tie the knot with small farmers for tasks like grading and sorting of their crops.

He said that CBBO needs to involve maximum number of farmers in FPO to ensure maximum benefit of the project.

Citing the example of Dairy Cooperative Amul, the Minister said that large FPOs could be created in the same pattern with the involvement of a large number of fruit and vegetable growers.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Joy Prakash Dalal said that 600 to 700 FPOs have already been formed in the state.

More than 50 CBBO delegates and 300 FPOs working in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Punjab were invited to the regional conference. The conference was attended by officials of various implementing agencies as well as state government officials working with FPOs.

N Vijaya Lakshmi, Joint Secretary (Marketing), Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, shared the progress of the project.

According to an official statement, the central government has formulated a new central sector scheme titled “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Production Agencies (FPOs)” which was officially launched by the Prime Minister in 2020 in Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh) with budget provisions. 6,865 crore.

The scheme is based on production cluster approach and aims to increase production, market access, diversification, value addition, processing and export and create agro-based employment opportunities and empower farmers. While adopting a cluster-based approach, the FPO structure will focus on “one district one product” to develop product specialization, the statement said.

The project also includes financial assistance of Rs. 18 lakhs per FPO for three years as management cost to make it sustainable and economically viable.