In order to discuss the ways to strengthen the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation, Amit Shah will inaugurate a day-long mega conclave “Strengthening PACS through FPOs” in New Delhi on July 14, 2023, Ministry of Cooperation announced on Monday.
The conclave will witness the participation of experts from the sector as well as members from the FPOs across the country. The conclave is being organised by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Cooperation.
“Being collective entities formed by farmers, enabling them to pool resources and enhance their bargaining power, the FPOs are one of the major vehicles for agricultural transformation. In order to realise the Government of India’s vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ and with the efforts of Union Minister of Cooperation, recently a decision was taken to form 1100 new FPOs in the cooperative sector,” Ministry of Cooperation said.
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“With an important initiative of Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has recently allocated additional blocks to NCDC to form and promote 1100 FPOs in the cooperative sector through the strengthening of PACS under the scheme to bolster the cooperative sector and provide comprehensive support to small and marginal farmers,” the ministry informed.
Under the FPO scheme, financial assistance of Rs.33 lakh is provided to each FPO. Further, financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakhs per FPO is given to the Cluster-Based Business Organizations (CBBOs) for promoting and handholding the FPOs.
FPOs are being touted as playing a crucial role in making farming sustainable and in promoting livelihoods and improving the overall quality of life of those dependent on agriculture. They help small and marginal farmers/producers access better prices, reduce transportation costs, and enhance overall productivity.
The government has been pushing for integration of the PACS with the FPO scheme to enable the farmers to expand their business range of activities such as supply of production inputs; agricultural equipment like cultivator, tiller and harvester and processing and value addition, including cleaning, assaying, sorting, grading, packing, storage and transportation.
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The PACS have a huge member base of around 13 crore farmers who are primarily engaged in short-term credit and distribution of seeds and fertilisers. Presently, more than 86 per cent of farmers in the country are small and marginal.
Since, there is a need to facilitate these farmers with access to improved technology, credit, better input and more markets to incentivise them to produce better quality commodities, the Government has already taken steps to encourage the farmers associated with the PACS to form FPOs. In this regard, the Central sector scheme ‘Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations’ was launched under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The NCDC is a statutory organisation under Ministry of Cooperation with the mandate to plan, promote, and finance cooperatives for increasing production and productivity and instituting post-harvest facilities. During the FY 2022-23, the NCDC disbursed Rs. 41,031.39 crore in different sectors including agriculture processing, weaker sections, computerisation of cooperatives, service, credit and youth cooperatives and others.
