Ensure women’s participation in farm organisations: Shimla DC

Shimla, July 24

Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap emphasised on increasing the participation of women farmers in the farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to empower them through the scheme.

Kashyap said this while chairing a district-level monitoring committee meeting organised to review the progress of the Centre-sponsored scheme for formation and development plan of 10,000 FPOs.

On this occasion, the DC said the objective of the meeting was to monitor and review the progress and functioning of the FPOs formed in the district.

He said under the scheme, implementation agencies, including the NABARD and small farmers’ agribusiness consortium (SFAC), had facilitated the formation of 17 FPOs via cluster-based business organisations (CBBOs) that were registered under the Companies Act and the Cooperative Societies Act.

He added that more than 5,400 farmers were benefiting from various services in the active 17 FPOs of the district.

The DC said there was a need to work with diversity and innovation to strengthen the economy of farmers, directing officials to assist the FPOs in obtaining necessary licenses and better prices for their produce.

Kashyap mentioned that the main activities of the FPOs include aggregation and marketing of rice, pulses, vegetables and apples, along with food processing, among others.