The District Development Commissioner (DDC) Srinagar, Mohammad Ajaz Asad today gave approval for the setting up of one Farmer Produce Organization (FPO) during current financial year in Tengpora Block of Srinagar under the Central Sector Scheme of FPOs implemented by NABARD.The sanctioned FPO will benefit the targeted farmers for promoting market linkages of vegetables like Squash, Capsicum and Brinjal which are produced in bulk from the Srinagar district. The FPO will be registered with an initial membership of 192 Farmers and steps will be taken to enhance the membership in coming months.After giving approval to the FPO, the DDC asked the concerned department to sensitize farmers about the advantages of FPO formation. He explained that the FPO is an institutional mechanism to reduce cost of production, increase per unit production and facilitate better market linkage so as to enhance the income of farmers. Asad said that FPO will provide an end to end solution of the problems confronted by the farmers. The farmers will be free to manage their affairs from the production level to post harvest and marketing of their branded products, he addedChief Agriculture Officer Srinagar, Chowdhary Mohammad Younis informed that there is a huge export potential of vegetables from Srinagar District which can be further enhanced through FPO promotion.“Besides this for the first time Vegetables have been Exported from Kashmir to Sharjah (UAE) through Lulu Group in which Srinagar district contributes more than 90% of the export produce ”, he added.DDM NABARD also said that in addition to grant support from NABARD for a period of three years, the FPO can become eligible to get equity grant support to the tune of Rs 15 lakh per FPO and can avail collateral free credit guarantee support upto Rs 2 crore from banks and other financial institutions.
