Manohar Lal Khattar Calls Upon Farmers To Join Farmers Producer Organizations

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has called upon farmers to join Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) in large numbers and earn more income by adopting storage, management, grading, and packaging techniques. He urged the farmers to adopt micro irrigation and drip irrigation techniques.

Urging the farmers to adopt natural farming, the Chief Minister said that it increases the fertility of the land. Less water is needed and due to non-dependence on chemical fertilizers, not only the production cost is decreased, but the quality of production also increases, said Khattar while interacting with the farmers of FPOs through audio conferencing on Saturday.

Khattar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had envisioned about FPOs in February 2020 with the objective of increasing the income of farmers by providing them with knowledge of modern technical management, storage, and marketing. "In this, a target was set to create 10,000 FPOs in the country. The farmers of Haryana have also successfully adopted this scheme. There are 731 FPOs in the state. After getting inspiration from the achievement of these FPOs, other farmers will also join the FPOs," he said, according to an official statement.
    
During their interaction with the CM, the farmers said due to financial assistance from the government to FPOs and many other types of assistance related to grading, and branding of products, the farmers are getting the right price for their produce. According to the statement, Jainender Chauhan, owner of Aterna Organic Farmer Producer Company Ltd, in Sonipat district apprised the Chief Minister that 500 farmers are associated with his FPO and they cultivate baby corn and sweet corn.

Anurag, owner of Pehowa Vegetable Producer Company Ltd, in Kurukshetra district shared that about 300 farmers are associated with his FPO, who cultivate potatoes. The tie-up has been done with different companies, due to which the farmers are greatly benefitted. The Chief Minister said that by doing the grading and packaging of their product, not only will they be saved from the interference of middlemen, but will also be directly connected with the market.

He said farmers can prepare a variety of agro products themselves, such as tomato puree, ginger-garlic paste, dry onion, etc. In this way, farmers can also become entrepreneurs by running their own agro-based small-scale industries, he said. The Chief Minister said that there is a lot of potential in Haryana for the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Turmeric is grown in the Yamunanagar district. Turmeric products can be prepared there.

Similarly, kinnow is grown in Sirsa district and potato in Kurukshetra, vegetables in Karnal and baby corn and mushroom in Sonipat are produced in abundance, he said. He said that FPO is the modern form of the cooperative sector. He said the government will motivate the progressive farmers to train other progressive farmers, and for this, the government will provide incentives to them. During the programme, Director General, Horticulture Department, Arjun Saini, gave detailed information about the assistance being given by the department to the FPOs.