Development of entire value chain should be goal of FPO rather than just production: Agricultural Secy Manoj Ahuja

New Delhi [India], July 12 : The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) in association with the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), organised a one-day National Workshop on Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), here on Wednesday.

In his presiding address, Secretary, Manoj Ahuja spoke of the important role played by the leadership and clear vision in establishing and achieving the aspiration of supporting marginal farmers and the development of the entire value chain should be the goal of FPO rather than just production.

In his address, Kidwai stressed on the need for monitoring by IAs of CBBOs, sensitisation of government functionaries; facilitation by Govt agencies in getting licenses and bank finance for FPOs.

The National Workshop was presided over by Secretary (Agriculture), GoI, Sh. Manoj Ahuja. The Additional Secretary, MoA&FW, Sh. Faiz Ahmed Kidwai and Additional Secretary and Managing Director, SFAC, Dr Maninder Kaur Dwivedi addressed the participants. Over 100 participants, including Secretaries, Commissioners and Directors (Agriculture) from 17 states and UTs; and 15 Project Implementing Agencies (agencies of the Central and State Governments) of the Scheme were present in the workshop.

The workshop ended with an open session, where key operational aspects of the scheme were discussed. As a part of the discussion, the participants appreciated the initiative of sharing information and examples to ensure cross-learning across all the entities.

The National Workshop was organised under the Central Sector Scheme for Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations. This Central Sector Scheme with an outlay of Rs 6,865 crore, was started in 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to substantially increase farmer incomes.

The scheme is designed to primarily benefit the small and marginal farmers who constitute more than 86 per cent of the farmer base.

The scheme focuses on forming farmer collectives (FPOs) to facilitate economies of scale and scope for the small & marginal farmers across the value chain thereby reducing the cost of production and increasing their revenue. Further, the scheme envisages providing credit guarantees for loans taken by FPOs for various business activities. A total of 6,319 FPOs have already been registered under the scheme to date.