SOA To Promote 25 Farmer Producer Organisations In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA), here has been entrusted the development of 25 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Odisha.

Stating this at a function in the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS) on Saturday, Bhabya Anand, regional head of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) in Bhubaneswar, said the initiative will provide sustainable finance to the FPOs. SOA had been chosen by NAFED as a Cluster Based Business Organisation (CBBO) at the state level, she added.

The government has planned to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs in five years with each FPO to be financed with Rs five lakh every year, she said adding that at least 300 farmers should come together in a plain area to constitute a FPO. 

NAFED, which is promoting 66 FPOs in Odisha, is the nodal agency for procurement of pulses and oilseeds in the state.

The proceedings of the National Cooperative Conference in New Delhi attended by Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation Amit Shah were beamed live at the function.

Prof DP Ray, principal advisor to the president of SOA; Prof PK Nanda, SOA’s pro-vice chancellor; Prof Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare); Prof Premananda Mohapatra, Dean (PG Studies) of IAS and Prof BK Sahu, Dean, IAS were present among others.