S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Mandi gets Rs 35 lakhs for FPO – There is a happy news with regards to Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi). National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned Rs 35 lakhs to IIT Mandi along with Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK) Society for setting up Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
An MoA (Memorandum-of-Agreement) was also signed between the three organisations recently in this regard, say sources. The MoA was signed by Dr. Venkata Krishnan, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Mandi, Ms. Sandhya Menon, Secretary, EWOK Society and Mr. Nilay Kapoor, Chief General Manager, NABARD.
IIT Mandi gets Rs 35 lakhs for FPO
The MoA was the result of the brainstorming meetings held between December 2019 and February 2020 to identify the key areas related to farm and non-farm sectors in Himachal Pradesh.
As a result, NABARD has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 35 lakhs to IIT Mandi and EWOK Society to promote and setup three FPOs in a period of next three years. IIT Mandi and EWOK will identify clusters for setting up the FPOs, establish and register the FPOs, train the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors of the FPOs and prepare the business development plan.
Venkata Krishnan said IIT Mandi is pleased to have this collaboration with NABARD. With the recent MoA signed, IIT Mandi and EWOK society will be able to connect and help the community at large in Himachal Pradesh.
Nilay Kapoor said regional office of NABARD was delighted to sanction three Farmer Producer Organizations to EWOK and IIT Mandi. This marks a new beginning for collaboration with prestigious institutes like IIT, Mandi.
The regional office proposes to sign a tri-partite agreement involving NABARD, EWOK and IIT Mandi for developing farmer-friendly equipments. In addition, opportunities will be explored for collaboration in areas like Internet of Things in agriculture, watershed, rural mart.
‘I am sure, our collaboration will go a long way in solving the problems of farmers of the State and achieving the dream of doubling of farmers income.’ Sandhya Menon said in the farm related activities, along with IIT Mandi Medicinal Plant Lab, some successful pilot programmes have been run for the past 2 years.
IIT Mandi gets Rs 35 lakhs for FPO – The support from NABARD has come at the right time in order to scale up these programmes to ensure a sustainable model in income generation for farmers in the long run in this area.
‘In the coming years, EWOK will play its role to form FPOs and guide in building out the FPO business activity and market linkages. Additionally, EWOK will continue to focus on skills development and increasing incomes of the women and families in the surrounding rural areas, especially through entrepreneurship.’
An FPO is a group of farm producers, with members as shareholders in an organisation. It is a registered body which deals with business activities related to the farm produce and works for the benefit of the member producers. In April 2013, the Government of India issued a National Policy on the formation of FPOs.