Karnataka govt sets ball rolling for farmer producer organisations

The Karnataka government has set the ball rolling for 750 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in the state, catering to farmers, fishermen and weavers.

The FPOs are planned to serve as a platform for the producers to come together and work as a community, thereby boosting market for their produce.

In a government order (GO) in this regard on Monday, approval was given for an estimated Rs 225 crore for the same.

Recently, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had announced the government’s plans for creating FPOs under ‘Amrith’ programmes.

According to the GO, these organisations will not only equip farmers with latest equipment, techniques and infrastructure to boost their produce, but will also serve as a platform to market the produce.

While they have been planned to be created at the hobli level, there will be separate FPOs for farmers, weavers and fishermen.

Explaining how the FPOs are set to work, an official who is part of the planning process in the agriculture department told DH: “These bodies will be created at hobli-level and farmers themselves will lead it, while the government will merely take on the role of guidance.

Training will be given to them initially on organising the FPOs. A state-level committee led by the development commissioner will look into the implementation process.”

The FPOs are expected to empower producers by offering them a platform to come together as a community.

“If a farmer goes to the market individually with five to 10 quintals of produce, they will not have bargaining power. If they go as a community, they will be able to congregate themselves, have bargaining power and attract more buyers with a bigger volume of produce,” the official explained.

The producers can also directly sell their produce to consumers. The FPOs will equally have the liberty to process their produce and sell it in their own brand, he added.

The government has set a three-year deadline to establish the 750 FPOs and the process for identifying the number of FPOs in each district and training the producers is set to commence soon.