Government Releases Operational Guidelines for FPOs

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar released a booklet on the operational guidelines on the functioning new Farmer Producer Organisations(FPOs) which are scheduled to be formed under the government scheme. The government has announced that it will form 10,000 FPOs last month. 

During the conferencing several key issues were discussed between the union minister and the representatives of the states. The Minister of state for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Chaudhary were also present along with minister of agriculture from various states and senior officers from the Department of Agriculture. 

He said that under the Atma nirbhar package a financial facility of worth Rs. 100,000 crore  was allocated to establish various Agriculture Infrastructure Projects across the country. The fund will also be utilised to reduce crop wastage which usually accounts for 20% of the total yield. 

He further remarked that under the Kisan Credit Card(KCC) scheme the government has set a target of providing over 2.5 crore Kisan Credit Card by the end of the year. Under the PM-Kisan Yojana data has been collected on over 10.5 crore land holdings out of a total of 14.5 crore which will help in identifying those farmers who are in need of KCC. 

The minister set the deadline of the formation of the 10,000 FPOs as 2023-24 and said that the FPOs can expect the government’s support for a period of 5 years whose cost is adjudged to be at Rs.6,866 crore. He assured the states that the Union government will provide its complete support to the states. 

Most of the states which were represented by their Agriculture ministers supported the Union government’s gesture and announced their support to the Union government in implementing these schemes to ensure a wide coverage which in turn would help the farmers raise their income and will boost the rural economy.