Expressing optimism over prospects of Indian farmers’ income, Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala has said that the farmer-producer organisation (FPO) model could help achieve the goal of doubling farmers’ income ‘well before time’. He noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier talked about doubling the income of farmers by 2022.
Rupala also said that some successful FPO models are working in the country and efforts could be made to replicate them or expand their ambit to other regions. Using this FPO model, farmers are in a position to fix the price of their production. He said ‘Due to the central government’s policies in the last three years, agriculture production is breaking all records and now as PM Modi said, we need to connect agriculture production to the other aspect - that is doubling the income of farmers in the country’.
He recommended farmers and FPOs to see what is the global trend in terms of consumer needs and cater to that demand. Earlier, there were veg and non-veg categories but currently organic items are in demand in the veg category, so FPOs should tap such a market and cater to the demand by providing branded and reliable organic products. Citing examples of Chinese products like fire crackers and kites, he said those companies know about festivals in India and accordingly, cater to demands of consumers here.