District Level Monitoring Committee (D-Mc) for Central Sector Scheme (CSS) of ‘Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) today discussed the modalities at its meeting chaired by District Development Commissioner Rajinder Singh Tara.At the outset DDM, NABARD, Nikhil Sharma gave a brief presentation on the operational guidelines of the new CSS in order to achieve the target of forming new FPOs in five years in the district and to make the FPOs economically sustainable.Under the scheme, formation and promotion of FPOs will be based on Produce Cluster Area and financial support to the new FPOs up to maximum of Rs 18 lakh per FPO or actual, whichever is lesser is to be provided during three years from the year of formation, he added.Equity grant shall also be extended in the form of matching grant up to maximum limit of Rs 15 lakh per FPO which is based on Rs. 2000 per member of FPO, said DDM.The meeting was further informed that Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF) will be created to provide suitable credit guarantee cover to accelerate the flow of institutional credit to the FPOs. As per the scheme, the FPOs shall be formed and nurtured professionally by Community Based Business Organisation (CBBOs),he added.He continued that FPO with a minimum member size of 300 shall be eligible under the scheme in plain areas whereas the size for the hilly areas is set for 100 members.
During the meeting, the Constitution of the committee was approved and further threadbare discussion on the strategy for overall coordination and implementation of the scheme was held.Besides, for the effective implementation of CSS, and to promote the formation of value chain , processing and export in the district , identification of 2 potential produce clusters where FPOs can be formed and promoted were sought from the committee.In this regard, DDC Kishtwar directed the heads of the Agriculture and agri-allied departments to expedite the exercise of identifying the 2 Potential Produce Clusters in a convergence mode and as per the set guidelines of the scheme. Further the DDC asked the concerned District Officers to appoint Nodal officers in their respective sectors for smooth coordination and implementation of the scheme at grassroots level.The present in the meeting were Additional Deputy Commissioner, Pawan Parihar; Joint Director Planning Mohd Iqbal, LDM Nasir Ahmed Bhat; BDO Mughal Maidan , Arun Kumar Badyal; Chief Horticulture officer M A Wani; Saffron Development Officer, Amjad Hussain Malik; Chief Animal Husbandry Officer, Dr Altaf Ali Syed, besides the representatives of other concerned departments.