Govt sets priorities; Agriculture infra projects, 10,000 FPOs, KCC saturation drive
10 July 2020, New Delhi: Agriculture infrastructure Projects, creation of 10,000 FPOs and KCC saturation drive are the top three priorities of the Government for boosting Agriculture income in the country. The Minister held a meeting with States through Video Conferencing today to deliberate upon these priorities of the government.
Related Read: Cabinet approves Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
The meeting was attended by Ministers of State for Agriculture, Mr. Parshottam Rupala and Mr. Kailash Chaudhary, Agriculture Ministers of almost all the States and senior officers of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.
On the occasion, the Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister released a booklet on new operational guidelines for formation and promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). The key implementation issues were discussed during interaction with the States.
Related Read: Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium to form 10 thousand FPOs
The Government has allocated Rs 20 lakh crore package for ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’. Under this package Rs 1 lakh crore financing facility has been allocated for establishment of Agriculture Infrastructure Projects at farm-gate & aggregation points. The Minister said that this fund will be utilized for creating post-harvest infrastructure to avoid wastage of crop produce; which is about 15-20% of total yield at present.
The Minister emphasized that Kisan Credit Card (KCC) saturation drive was initiated by the Government and target of issuing 2.5 crore KCCs by the end of year is set. There are about 6.67 crore active KCC accounts presently. About 95 lakh applications have been received out of which 75 lakh applications have been sanctioned since February 2020.
10,000 FPO to be formed till 2023-24
Mr. Tomar stated that total 10,000 FPOs are to be formed till 2023-24. The Govt support to each FPO will be continued for 5 years. The cost of proposed scheme is Rs. 6,866 crores. He assured that all the necessary help/support would be rendered to the States to accelerate agriculture infrastructure development; promotion of FPOs and extending credit facilities to the farmers through KCC.
