New Delhi [India], May 17 : The Centre on Wednesday decided to form 1,100 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in the cooperative sector, an initiative that will ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their produce by providing them necessary market linkages, said an official statment.
Under the FPO Scheme, financial assistance of Rs 33 lakhs is provided to each FPO. Further, financial aid of Rs 25 lakhs per FPO is supplied to the Cluster-Based Business Organizations (CBBO).
Steps have been taken in order to realize Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of "Sahkar se Samriddhi" with the efforts of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, said a statement from the Cooperation Ministry.
As per the statement, a target of these 1,100 additional FPOs has been allocated to National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare under its 'Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs' scheme.
The statement further said, "Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), which have a member base of around 13 crore farmers and are primarily engaged in short-term credit and distribution of seeds and fertilizers will now be able to undertake other economic activities as well."
Integration of PACS in the FPO scheme will enable them to expand their business in the areas of supply of production inputs, agricultural equipment like cultivator, tiller, harvester, etc. and processing, including cleaning, assaying, sorting, grading, packing, storage and transportation, the statement said.
According to the statement, PACS will also be able to undertake high-income generating activities like bee-keeping and mushroom cultivation
"This initiative will ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their produce by providing them with necessary market linkages. It would also lead to diversification in the economic activities of PACS, thus enabling them to generate new and stable sources of income," the statement read.
This, along with various other initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Cooperation under the leadership of Amit Shah for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, will enable the cooperative sector in general and PACS in particular, to generate alternative sources of revenues for their members, thus transforming themselves into viable, dynamic and financially sustainable economic entities, the statement added.
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