Lok Sabha Question No. 101 (STARRED), answered on 2021-02-09
Subject: Promotion of FPOs in Bihar
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Sanjay Jaiswal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 101

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  9 TH    FEBRUARY, 2021

## PROMOTION OF FPOs IN BIHAR

*101. DR. SANJAY JAISWAL:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the initiatives  of  Small  Farmers'  Agribusiness  Consortium  for promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Bihar and the total number of FPOs in Bihar, district-wise;
- (b) the funds given by Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium for setting up of FPOs in Bihar, especially in West Champaran district;
- (c) whether the Government has encouraged more farmers to set up a greater number of FPOs to provide better services to farmers in rural areas;
- (d) if so, the response of the farmers in this regard; and
- (e) the total number of farmers who are availing benefits of various agricultural schemes in Bihar, especially in West Champaran district?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

(SHRI NARENDRA  SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.   101   DUE FOR REPLY ON 9 TH  FEBRUARY, 2021.

(a) & (b): Government of India through Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), a  registered  society  under  Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  &  Farmers  Welfare, Government of India, is promoting Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) by mobilizing the farmers and helping them in registering as companies and providing them with handholding support  and  training  for  their  sustainability. SFAC  has  undertaken  various  FPO  promotion programmes in Bihar such as Vegetable Initiative for Urban Cluster (VIUC), Special Project Katihar, National Food for Security Mission (NFSM), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHDF). 38 FPOs have been promoted by SFAC in Bihar. District wise list of FPOs promoted by SFAC in Bihar is at Annexure-I . However, SFAC has not promoted FPO in West Champaran District.

So far, Rs 891.19 lakh have been released by SFAC for promotion of FPOs in Bihar since 2011-12.

(c) & (d): A  new  Central  Sector  Scheme  (CSS)  titled  "Formation  and  Promotion  of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)" to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs has been formed by the Government of India during 2020 to encourage more farmers to set up greater number of FPOs to provide better services to farmers.

As per the aforesaid scheme, FPOs are to be developed in produce clusters, wherein agricultural and horticultural produce is grown / cultivated for leveraging economies of scale and improving market access for members. Formation & Promotion of FPOs are to be done through  Implementing  Agencies  (IAs),  which  will  further  engage  Cluster  Based  Business Organizations (CBBOs) to form & provide professional handholding support to FPOs for a period of 5 years.

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FPOs will be provided financial assistance upto Rs 18.00 lakh per FPO for a period of 03  years.  In  addition  to  this,  provision  has  been  made  for  matching  equity  grant  upto  Rs. 2,000  per  farmer  member  of  FPO  with  a  limit  of  Rs.  15.00  lakh  per  FPO  and  a  credit guarantee facility upto Rs. 2 crore of project loan per FPO from eligible lending institution to ensure  institutional  credit  accessibility  to  FPOs.  Suitable  provisions  have  been  made  for training and skill development of FPOs.

Under  new  Central  Sector  Scheme  (CSS)  of  'Formation  and  Promotion  of  10,000 Farmers Produce Organization (FPOs)', following Implementing Agencies (IAs) have been have been finalized for formation and promotion of FPOs viz. Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC),  National Bank for Agriculture and  Rural Development  (NABARD),  National  Agricultural Cooperative Marketing  Federation  of  India  (NAFED),  North  Eastern  Regional  Agricultural  Marketing Corporation  Limited  (NERAMAC),  Tamil  Nadu-Small  Farmers  Agri-Business  Consortium (TN-SFAC), Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium Haryana (SFACH),  Watershed Development Department (WDD)- Karnataka & Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chains  (FDRVC)-  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  (MoRD).  A  total  of  2200  FPO  produce clusters  have  been  allocated  for  formation  of  FPOs.  Of  these  allocated  FPO  produce clusters,  total  of  128  FPO  produce  clusters  have  been  allocated  for  Bihar  which  includes specialized  FPO  produce  clusters  for  Organic,  Honey,  Oil  seeds  during  2020-21.  Further, NAFED  has  formed  &  registered  05  Honey  FPOs  in  Uttar  Pradesh,  Madhya  Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal. CBBOs have been empanelled & engaged by SFAC and NAFED. Training & skill development modules have been developed to further strengthen the FPOs.

Evaluation  Report  of  PricewaterhouseCoopers  (PwC)  on  FPOs  under  world  bank aided  Maharashtra  Agriculture  Competitiveness  Project  (MACP),  titled  'Impact  Study  7Enhanced  realization of agriculture produce marketed through Producer  Companies (PCs)/FCSCs  under MACP', brings out the following major findings: (i) sale through Farmer Producers  Companies  (FPCs)  has  resulted  in  increased  price  realization  by  members  by 22%, (ii) Incidence of cost of marketing is 31% lower than other channels (iii) 28 percent of members have purchased inputs from PCs and it has resulted into net savings of Rs.1384 per acre.

(e): The  information  provided  by  Government  of  Bihar,  in  reference  to  total  number  of beneficiaries in the State under various agriculture schemes is placed at Annexure- II, which includes the details of West Champaran district also.

## Annexure-I

## District wise list of FPOs promoted by SFAC in Bihar

| Sl. No.   | Districts      |   FPOs (In numbers) |
|-----------|----------------|---------------------|
| 1         | Patna          |                   5 |
| 2         | Rohtas         |                   1 |
| 3         | East Champaran |                  16 |
| 4         | Gaya           |                   2 |
| 5         | Hajipur        |                   1 |
| 6         | Katihar        |                   2 |
| 7         | Muzaffarpur    |                   7 |
| 8         | Nalanda        |                   3 |
| 9         | Purnia         |                   1 |
|           | Grand Total    |                  38 |

Annexure-II

## Farmer Beneficiaries under various Government schemes in Bihar

|   Sl. No | Scheme                                         |   Total Beneficiary Farmers, Bihar | West Champaran   |
|----------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------|
|        1 | RKVY (2020-21)                                 |                             132172 | 5393             |
|        2 | NFSM (2019-20)                                 |                             327426 | 833              |
|        3 | Agriculture Input Subsidy (Kharif 2020-21)     |                             784232 | 3258             |
|        4 | Agriculture Input Subsidy (Rabi Feb 2019-20)   |                            1856146 | 1331             |
|        5 | Agriculture Input Subsidy (Rabi March 2019-20) |                            1097931 | 4708             |
|        6 | Agriculture Input Subsidy (Rabi April 2019-20) |                             559748 | 31               |
|        7 | Agriculture Input Subsidy (Kharif 2020-21)     |                            1532600 | Nil              |
|        8 | Contingent Crop Plan (Kharif - 2020)           |                             380345 | 40692            |
|        9 | Farm Mechanization (2020-21)                   |                                666 | Nil              |
|       10 | P.M. Kisan Yojana                              |                            7774551 | 290586           |
|       11 | Jaivik Corridor (only in 13 districts)         |                              21731 | Nil              |
|       12 | Seed Distribution in All Schemes (2020-21)     |                            1425123 | 69843            |

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