Country’s first Farmers Producer Organisation (FPO) – a green chilli and mushroom processing unit — has been registered under the ambit of the Cooperative Societies Act in Varanasi, according to a press release issued by NCDC.
Registered on February 26, 2021, Krishak Utpadak Sanghthan Evam Audyanik Viparan Sahkari Samiti, in village Tikri under Kashi Vidyapeeth Block of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh will be set up for processing high value vegetable products. The focus commodities of the FPO are mushroom and green chilli. The FPO falls within the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Constituency.
Generally, the FPOs are registered under the Companies Act. However, this is the first time that such an entity has been established under the Cooperative Societies Act as the part of the Government’s Central Sector Scheme titled “Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)” to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 29, last year.
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the scheme, Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare said that emphasis has been given to bring strategic interventions in the existing marketing system and bringing farmer centric reforms aiming towards rapid agricultural development.
Terming the scheme as a game changer in the country’s agriculture eco-system, the Minister said that “target is to set up 10,000 FPOs with every block at least having one each. We will ensure that each FPO is a role model in itself so that other farmers can also take inspiration from them.”
He was speaking at a virtual event held here on the occasion in the presence of his colleague Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare besides senior officials from the concerned departments from the Ministry.
One of the implementing agencies of the scheme, the National Cooperative Development Cooperation (NCDC), an apex finance entity under the Union Agriculture Ministry, will handhold the FPO for next five years in establishing the multi-service center facilities for mushroom production and cultivation. Also, a full-fledged laboratory will be developed wherein farmers will be imparted training on the production of mushroom. The green chilli drying system has to be improved by setting up of dryers with vacuum nitrogen drying capacities.
Sundeep Nayak, Managing Director of the NCDC, said that the farmers in the country are keen to set up FPOs as it will help them boost their income and make them self-sustaining. This is just the beginning, he said adding that the Government has plans to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs in the country for which a budgetary provision of Rs 6,865 crore has been made. “The Government aims at transforming agriculture into a sustainable enterprise through FPOs,” Nayak said.