“An initial target for formation and promotion of 763 cooperative FPOs was allocated to NCDC, against which 672 FPOs have been registered under respective State Cooperative Acts”, said Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.
He further said, an additional target of 1,100 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) has been allocated to NCDC by the Government of India for formation and promotion of FPOs in the cooperative sector, through strengthening of PACS. Against the target of 1,100 FPOs, selection and allocation of 645 blocks has been completed”.
The Government of India has launched the Central Sector Scheme for “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)” in the year 2020 with a total budgetary outlay of Rs.6,865 crore which aims at enabling farmers to enhance their bargaining power, leverage economies of scale, reduction in cost of production and enhancing farmers’ incomes through aggregation of their agricultural produce, thus playing a major role towards sustainable incomes.
Shah said, “To strengthen the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS), Government of India has allocated a target of formation of 1,100 new FPOs through members of PACS. It is aimed at strengthening the existing PACS through remunerative prices for their produce by providing them necessary market linkages through District, State and National level federations, further leading to diversification in the economic activities of PACS and enabling them to generate new and stable sources of income”, he said.
“Under the scheme, FPOs are being provided financial assistance upto Rs.18.00 lakh for a period of 3 years. In addition, provision has been made for contribution of matching equity grant upto Rs. 2,000 per farmer member of FPO with a limit of Rs.15.00 lakh and a credit guarantee facility upto Rs.2 crore of project loan per FPO from eligible lending institutions to ensure institutional credit accessibility to FPOs”, the Union Cooperation Minister added.