District Development Commissioner, Vikas Kundal today chaired a meeting of the District Level Monitoring Committee (DLMC) to review implementation of Farmers Producer Organization (FPO) scheme in the District.
Officers present in the meeting were CPO, Mohammad Khurshid; ACD, Vijay Kumar; CAO, Sohan Singh; CHO, Madan Lal; LDM, Jyoti Prakash Sharma; DDM NABARD, Kanav Sharma; AD Planning, Mohd Rafi and other concerned officers.
It is pertinent to mention here that an FPO is a registered group of the farm community which promotes best practices of farming, maintains a marketing information system, diversifying and raising levels of knowledge and skills in agricultural production and post-harvest processing that adds value to products.
During the meeting, the DDC reviewed progress on the formation of FPOs by NABARD in the district to enhance the production, branding and marketing of agricultural products.The DDM NABARD, Kanav Sharma, who is also the Member Secretary of DLMC apprised the DDC that presently three FPOs supported by NABARD are functioning at Sunderbani, Nowshera and Qila Darhal.
The DDM NABARD also highlighted the salient features of the FPO scheme and broad services and activities being undertaken by the FPOs in the district.He also said that Kisan Ekta producer company Ltd at Sunderbani is the first FPO in the UT to get fertilizer retail license from CAO Office Rajouri.
The DDC said that FPO which is an institutional mechanism to reduce the cost of production, increase per unit production and facilitate better market linkage so as to enhance the income of farmers would be registered under the Companies Act.
He also said that FPOs provide an end-to-end solution to the problems confronted by the farmers.The DDC also instructed the line departments to have an all inclusive and holistic approach for the farming community to enhance their income by having successful FPOs in the district
He also directed the concerned officers to ensure that the constituted FPOs perform their functions effectively for betterment of the farmer community in the district.