The Government is promoting formation of Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs) in order to promote farming in organized manner, said Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha.
The Minister, however admitted that there is no specific scheme of the Government to promote organized farming.
The Government of India, through Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), has been promoting formation of FPOs with technical handholding and financial support to leverage the collectivization from pre-production to post-harvest marketing.
Minister referred to the Model Act “The State /UT Agricultural Produce & Livestock Contract farming and Services (Promotion & facilitation) Act, 2018” in May, 2018 for adoption by the States/Union Territories (UTs).
The Model Contract Farming Act provides that Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) may enter into agreement with the contract farming sponsor to draw all the benefits of contract farming all long the agri-food value chain. Self Help Groups (SHGs) as part of FPOs can avail the benefits.