Vol. 11 (1) : January-February 2020 issue
Green Farming Vol. 11 (1) : 83-86 ; January-February, 2020
Farmer’s Producer Organizations (FPOs) – A way for doubling income of the tribal farmers in West Godavari Dist. of A.P.
V. DEEPTHI1*, G. SHALIRAJU2, K. VENKATA SUBBAIAH3, E. KARUNA SREE4, A. DEVI VARA PRASADA REDDY5, T. VIJAYA NIRMALA6, B. SREENIVASULU7, R.V.S.K. REDDY8, Y.G. PRASAD9 and CHIRANJIV CHOUDHARY10
Dr. Y.S.R. Horticultural University, Vekataramannagudem - 534 101, West Godavari District (Andhra Pradesh)
Designation : 1Scientist (Agrl. Extn.) *(deepthi.vavilapalli@gmail.com), 2Scientist (Entomology), 3Scientist (Horticulture), 4Principal Scientist & Head, 5Scientist (Fishery Science), 6Scientist (Veterinary Science), 7Director of Extension, 8Director of Research, 9Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone –X, 10Vice-Chancellor
Subject : Agriculture Extension Education
Paper No. : P-7830
Total Pages : 4
Received : 08 January 2020
Revised accepted : 08 February 2020
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Citation :
V. DEEPTHI, G. SHALIRAJU, K. VENKATA SUBBAIAH, E. KARUNA SREE, A. DEVI VARA PRASADA REDDY, T. VIJAYA NIRMALA, B. SREENIVASULU, R.V.S.K. REDDY, Y.G. PRASAD and CHIRANJIV CHOUDHARY. Farmer’s Producer Organizations (FPOs) – A way for doubling income of the tribal farmers in West Godavari Dist. of A.P. Green Farming Vol. 11 (1) : 83-86 ; January-February, 2020
ABSTRACT
In India about 1.5 to 2.0 million land holdings are added to the small and marginal sector due to fragmentation of land where in farmers are deprived of quality inputs, awareness of technological interventions, non-accessibility to markets forcing to distress sale of produce. Farmers are unable to integrate with agricultural value chains, fight the risks and vulnerabilities such as commodity price volatility, crop failure etc on their own. The concept of Farmer’s Producer Organization (FPO) was initiated to make small holdings viable and more growth inclusive and to integrate small holders with agricultural markets. The importance of these organizations is even greater in Tribal areas where producers are scattered with suboptimal communication and transportation. In West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh Cashew is one of the important cash crops grown in area of 23,379 ha with a total production of 116890 tonnes and with a productivity of 753 kg/ha. Cashew is mostly spread in high altitude Tribal areas and also the only major source of income to the farmers. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Venkataramannagudem has identified technology gaps as well as extension gaps in addition to marketing problems in Tribal areas. To overcome this situation KVK, V R Gudem in association with ITDA, Dept. of Horticulture and Voluntary organizations formed an FPO i.e. “Tribal Cashew Producers Cooperative Society Limited” during 2017-18 with 45 groups with nearly 30-40 members each. About 2000 number FPO farmers produced and marketed a total of 1251 tonnes of Cashew nuts over a period of five years (2013-2018) for 35 percent higher rate than prevailing market price. Technology and extension gaps were covered through demonstrations and training programmes conducted by KVK which resulted in 12 percent higher yields as well as doubling of returns per unit area.
Key words :
Cashew farmers, Doubling the farmers income, FPO, Tribal farmers.