‘Farmers should form FPOs to increase their income’
   Date :08-Sep-2020

Subhash Rahangdale_1 
 Subhash Rahangdale
 
Business Bureau :
 
AGRO and Rural Development Forum of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) organised a webinar on ‘How to make FPC/FPO for the welfare of farmers of Vidarbha’ recently on Zoom app. In the webinar, CA Subhash Rahangdale said the Government had launched a new dedicated Central Sector Scheme titled Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) with a clear strategy and committed resources to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs. NABARD, NCDC, SAFC, SMART in Maharashtra are offering support to the scheme. “Farmers should form FPOs to increase their incomes,” he said.
 
Rahangdale explained the essential features of FPO. “The FPO is formed by a group of producers for either farm or non-farm activities. It is a registered body and a legal entity. It deals with business activities related to the produce/product. Producers are shareholders in the organisation. It works for the benefit of the member producers in their patronage. A part of the profit is shared amongst the producers. Rest of the surplus is added to its owned funds for business expansion,” he pointed out. He said, “FPOs are member based farmer institutions formed with an objective to feed the growing population of the world.
 
There are challenges like shrinking resources and changing climate. Besides India, countries like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia etc., have also adopted the FPO approach.” He said that the Farmer Producer Company (FPC) shall be deemed to be a private company limited by shares without any limit on the number of members. For incorporating a FPC 10 members are required. Members of the FPO will manage their activities together in the organisation to get technology, input, finance and market for faster enhancement of their income. Shachi Mallick, Convener said, “A group of farmers can achieve considerable growth. Our group has formed a FPC to work in the segment of organic produce.
 
Under our Forum, we are taking tireless efforts to support the farmers of our region”. Om Prakash Jajodia, Chairman, Agro and Rural Development Forum welcomed all the participants who were keen to know about the FPO/FPC. He said farmers will have to get united for marketing of their produce is the basic solution for the issues of farming. Farmers should also understand the benefits of organic farming. The coronavirus pandemic has increased the demand of organic food products in the market which is essential to live a healthy life.
 
Organic farming is also a good career option as it offers huge opportunity to double the farmers income. Ashit Sinha, Mentor of Agro and Rural Development Forum thanked the speaker for sharing the insights of FPO/FPC in detail. He said that the FPO/FPC approach will help many farmers to sustain their agribusiness. R B Goenka and Dr Suhas Buddhe both Vice-Presidents of VIA, Kriti Mangrulkar, Executive Committee Member of Agro and Rural Development Forum, various groups of farmers and agribusiness enthusiasts were present during the webinar.