Ramban admin shortlists maize, Anardana, honey, pea for FPOs

Ramban : Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, Mussarat Islam, today  chaired the District Monitoring Committee meeting on formation and promotion of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Cluster Based Business Organizations (CBBOs)  for providing direct benefit of produce to the farming community. The meeting was attended by Chief Agriculture Officer, Farooq Ahmed, DDM NABARD, Arushi Sharma; LDM and other senior officers of allied departments.During the meeting, a threadbare discussion was held on the potential crops to scale up their production and marketing in an innovative way by formulating   FPOs and CBBOs to provide maximum benefits to farmers from their crops.The Committee selected one major and minor crop for all identified blocks including maize as major and walnut as minor crop for Ramsoo, Sundries  Anardana and Dry-Rind for Batote and Sangaldan, besides pea  for Ramban block.The DC stressed upon the officers for establishment of one FPO in   every agriculture and allied activity and added that NABARD shall provide financial assistance for registration and promotion of these FPOs.The aim is to form societies called FPOs and CBBOs in the sectors to promote intensive marketing, export and patenting of walnut, Anardana, honey and Rajma to double the income of their producers, as envisaged by the Government, he added.The officers were asked to involve DDC members, BDCs, PRIs, NGOs to formulate FPOs. The DC directed DDM, NABARD and officers of allied departments to sensitize farmers about the significance of formation of FPOs during their awareness camps.