Over 5.5 lakh farmers mobilised under central scheme for FPOs, govt. says

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS): More than 5.87 lakh farmers have been mobilised under the ‘Formation & Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)’ scheme launched in February 2020 with equity contribution by farmer members amounting to INR 36.82 crore, the Centre announced on Thursday.

Stating that the FPOs have started business transactions, the government said, “As many as 84 FPOs of 14 Cluster Based Business Organisations (CBBOs) have made transactions worth INR 928.28 lakh and 12 FPOs of three CBBOs of NAFED have made transactions worth INR 48.35 lakh.”

This was the data shared at the National Conference of CBBOs here.

About three lakh farmers have been registered as shareholders of the FPOs. Total equity base of the FPOs, including the equity grant released, amounted to INR 50 crore, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare said, adding, “In all 201 women focused FPOs have been registered and 481 FPOs registered in tribal districts.”

Stressing on the role of CBBOs in strengthening the FPOs – which are not merely a company but a collective for the benefit of farmers – Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, “More and more farmers should be part of FPOs. Earlier, around 7,000 FPOs were made but they could not last and a new scheme of FPOs was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an outlay of INR 6,865 crore.”

“At a time when the country is observing ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the government is making every effort for the prosperity of farmers,” Tomar said at the inaugural session of the conference.