Yogi govt to rate FPOs on performance

Lucknow, Dec 30

For the first time, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will rate the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) on the basis of their performance and facilitate them accordingly.

The rating, a state government spokesman said, would induce competitiveness amongst the FPOs -- the organisations of farm producers that provide technical and marketing support to small farmers -- prompting them to perform better.

This will also help the seed selling agencies to engage with better performing FPOs. The first such rating is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2023.

The details of the ranking will be uploaded on the portal by January 31.

The move also marks the state government's attempt to arrest the chances of FPOs "flying-by-night" after availing benefits from the government.

Additional chief secretary, agriculture, Devesh Chaturvedi, said: "We are in the process of preparing a master data of all FPOs on a portal. This would help the state government in keeping a close tab on their functioning. They would be rated as well."

The FPOs would be rated on a 15-point scale, including the number of farmers, number of women members in the organization, their annual turnover, whether the share shoulders were paid dividends, whether any agro-processing unit was set up by the organization and the extent to which the products were branded and sold in the open market.

Officials said that the agriculture department has come up with a dedicated portal named 'Shakti', where the FPOs will get registered.

Chaturvedi has asked all district magistrates that the FPOs be encouraged in a way so that they get registered "not only to avail government funds", but also work towards providing input and post-harvest benefits to its members.

The state government would give two weeks buffer time to the FPOs after releasing their ranking. They can utilise this period in proposing steps they intend to take in improving their position.

The official said that the criteria which formed the basis of FPO's ranking would be uploaded on the portal to ensure transparency.

The development attains importance against the backdrop of Centre proposing to set up 10,000 FPOs in the country.

--IANS