Farmers to get benefit
The Government would organise a State-level federation for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) and take up extension activities through them so that the farmer avail benefits under Vegetable Initiative for Urban Cluster (VIUC) scheme.
At a high level meeting here, Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati said that the FPOs should be provided with technical knowhow, resource persons and marketing exposure. He also directed the department to involve the FPOs and aggregators of horticultural produces in supply of quality bio-fertilizers, seed and pesticides on cost to cost basis to the farmers.
The department has also been directed to plan for production of seasonal vegetables in different agro-climatic zones of the State throughout the year. The organised marketing agencies of horticultural produces like Udyan
Fresh and Veggie Kart have been asked to open more counters through mobile vans. They can avail subsidy facility for the initiative. Specific steps will be taken to link institutional and bulk buyers of vegetables with organised marketing system.
A target has been set to scale up organised marketing of vegetables to the tune of Rs 100 crore by 2015 end. Available data shows till now 10 districts namely Puri, Khorda, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Ganjam have been included under the VIUC scheme.
Base line survey has been completed in Bhubaneswar, Samablpur, Rourkela and Brahmapur clusters and 1,059 FPOs have been organised involving 20,940 farmers. Farmers have been trained by professional experts in the matters relating to good agronomic practices, post harvest management, marketing and group dynamics.
So far 11,000 farmers in Bhubaneswar, 600 in Sambalpur and 2,100 in Brahmapur clusters have been trained. The FPOs have also raised share capital ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 9 lakh. Aggregators-cum-developers have also been identified in the clusters.
Four modern Vegetable Seedling Production Units will be established at Bhubaneswar, Banki, Jajpur and Nimapara of Puri districts to ensure easy availability of quality planting materials to the farmers. The estimated cost per unit has been calculated at Rs 31.20 lakh. The unit at Ekmrakanana, Bhubaneswar has been completed.
Organic farming with adoption and certification has been taken up for 2,000 hectares in these clusters. The certification is done through APEDA, accredited agencies and most of the farmers have obtained C-1and C-2 certificate. An action plan has been prepared with an estimate of Rs 1, 400 lakh for 2014-15.
It has been decided to include additional 6,000 farmers with 2,000 from each of the clusters like Sambalpur, Rourkela and Brahmapur.
Principal Secretary Agriculture Rajesh Verma, Special Secretary GA Niten Chandra, Secretary W CD Sawswat Mishra along with representatives from farmers groups and developers- cum-aggregators participated.