Farmer-friendly 10k FPOs in progress now

New Delhi The central government has made considerable progress on its scheme of promoting farmer producer organizations (FPOs). In 2020, the government had launched the central sector scheme for the formation and promotion of 10,000 FPOs with a total budgetary outlay of Rs6,865 crore.

Not only 10,000 FPOs have just been constituted, but also allocated to various implementing agencies (IAs), official sources told Bizz Buzz, adding that out of them more than 6,300 FPOs have been registered across the country.

The objective of the scheme is to enable farmers to enhance their bargaining power, leverage economies of scale, reduce the cost of production, and enhance their incomes through the aggregation of their produce, thus playing a major role towards sustainable incomes.

Under the scheme, FPOs are provided financial assistance up to Rs18 lakh per FPO for a period of three years. In addition to this, provision has been made for matching equity grants up to Rs2,000 per farmer member of FPO with a limit of Rs15 lakh per FPO and a credit guarantee facility up to Rs2 crore of project loan per FPO from eligible lending institutions to ensure institutional credit accessibility to FPOs.

Considering the significance and strategic role of the State Government and its machinery down the line in synergizing the efforts in mobilizing farmers, the government has made provisions in operational guidelines of the 10,000 FPOs scheme wherein a State level consultative committee is constituted under a senior state official.

At the district level, a district level monitoring committee (DLMC) is constituted under the chairmanship of a top district official. The DLMC also comprises representatives from different line departments and experts. This, the sources said, provides approval for potential produce clusters in the block. It is also responsible for overall coordination, monitoring and implementation of the scheme at the district level. Provisions have also been made in the government schemes for availing benefits by FPOs.