Forming 10K FPOs among govt's revolutionary reforms: Tomar

New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken revolutionary reforms in agriculture, including formation of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).Addressing the 24th Management Board and 19th Annual General Meetings of the Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), the Minister said on Friday that FPOs must not only be formed but also achieve their objectives as the responsibility of completing this task lies with SFAC, which is responsible for strengthening the e-NAM platform.There has been considerable progress in institutional and private investments after the establishment of SFAC, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.As per the statement, a business of more than Rs 1 lakh crore has been transacted over the e-NAM platform till now and over 1.66 crore farmers and more than 1.30 lakh businesses registered with e-NAM since its inception.Tomar said: "It is a challenge for us to ensure that as a result of reforms, there is ease in selling of farm produce, along with transparency; farmers get remunerative prices for their produce; and they have direct access to this platform. Farmers have completed the harvesting work with great dedication even during lockdown."He appreciated the effort of SFAC in launching 'Kisan Rath app' with the help of ministry officials, which lessened the problem of transport of farm produce during the lockdown.
--IANS pj/tsb