New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government plans to launch 10,000 Farmer Produce Organisations (FPO) in the next three years to achieve its goal of making India a $5 trillion economy, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said Friday.
Speaking to ThePrint at the first India International Cooperatives Trade Fair, Tomar also said the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will be roped in to establish FPOs across the country.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had, in her budget speech, proposed the setting up of 10,000 new FPOs in the next five years.
An FPO is a body of small and marginal farmers, which facilitates fundings, access to technology and market supply chain. FPOs are registered under the special provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, and often function as self-help groups.
Addressing the event, Tomar also said cooperative societies such as FPOs are necessary to overcome financial gaps in places where government and private institutes are unable to reach.
The minister later relaunched the ‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme 2019’, with an annual outlay of Rs 100 crore. The scheme was launched in 2018 and linked to the Rs 1,000 crore Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund (CSIF), created by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
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Stubble burning
The agriculture minister also said the Centre has allocated Rs 1,150 crore between 2018-19 and 2019-20 to several states to prevent burning of paddy stubble. Around Rs 500 crore was given to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
Tomar claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over the minimum support price of paddy in order to compensate farmers for the additional burden of handling paddy residue.
Also at the event, a Memorandum of Intent was signed for between three Indian milk cooperatives and the Sri Lankan government for the export of milk and milk products. The three cooperatives are Indian Potash Limited, PonLait (milk cooperative of Puducherry) and Aavin (milk cooperative of Tamil Nadu).
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Another approach would be to open up the marketing of agricultural commodities completely, dismantle the APMCs, allow in corporations that can invest in cold chains and processing. Our farmers cannot compete with apple growers in the US, dairy producers in New Zealand.
But then that would enrich and empower the ordinary farmer and consequently rural India. This would lead to government, politicos and bureaucrats losing their power to patronise. Now why would any mai baap sarkar allow that to happen.