New Delhi: It seems the initiatives taken by the Agriculture Ministry under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started yielding results as Small Farmers' Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) has been able to establish 551 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in the last four years (2014-18), which is 147 per cent more than the total number of FPOs established in 2011-14.
The formation of FPOs has helped in the addition of about 7.52 lakh 7.52 lakh farmers belonging to small, medium and marginal groups with FPOs, said Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh while addressing farmers on the occasion of silver jubilee celebrations of the SFAC.
Taking a jibe Congress-led UPA government, the minister said, "During their (UPA) tenure in 2011-14 only 223 FPOs were formed, which is enough to understand their concern for farmers. We have worked on a mission mode to double the income of farmers by implementing several key initiatives taken by the Modi government."
The minister further said that various programmes such as professional training, handholding, Delhi Kisan Mandi, FPO-buyer e-interface portal and strengthening of basic infrastructure, etc are being implemented by the SFAC to make FPOs more sustainable.
"Till now (since 2014), 349 FPOs have been provided capital subsidy of Rs 20 crore and in addition 38 FPOs have taken advantage of the credit guarantee fund scheme," Singh said, adding that till 2014, only 850 projects were given Rs 264.32 crore under venture capital assistance scheme, which increased to increased to Rs 404.45 crore in 1,426 projects in the last four years.
Earlier, in the day, while speaking at a separate event, the minister said. "The previous governments' failure to address critical issues related to farming led to a loss of interest in agriculture by farmers. It witnessed a reverse trend since the Modi government came to power in 2014 as numbers of farmers have increased."
"Since 2014, four critical areas of agriculture — reducing the cost of production, ensuring remunerative price for farmers' produce, stopping wastage, and ensuring alternative source of income — were being addressed in a mission mode", the minister said, adding, "We decided to implement the schemes in such a way that farmers' income could be doubled by 2022."