Financial Express reports the government intends making easier the conversion of over 95,000 PACs — into farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to fulfil the Budget promise of forming 10,000 such bodies in the next five years.
This is expected to help the government immediately use the expertise at the grassroots level to ramp up farmers’ income.
The formation of 10,000 new farmer producer organizations will ensure economies of scale for farmers in the foreseeable future.
While Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium promotes 819 FPOs, Nabard has helped in the creation of FPOs which include cooperatives. Nabard had earlier set up a Rs 50-crore fund for helping producer organizations including PACS.
It is significant that most of FPOs are beginning to making profits.