The COVID-19 lockdown seems to have brought the best in Farmers Producers’ Organisations (FPOs), numbering 550 in Tamil Nadu.
From having maintained a low-key in the last five-odd years, broadly taking care of “back-office” operations of the State farm sector, the FPOs or Farmers Producers’ Companies (FPCs) have voluntarily involved themselves in the supply of fruits, vegetables and other essential commodities to consumers in the light of the lockdown, according to Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Principal Secretary (Agriculture) and Agricultural Production Commissioner.
According to official data, over 100 tonnes of fruits, 447 tonnes of vegetables and 116 tonnes of grocery were supplied by 90 FPCs through various marketing channels such as 65 farmers markets (‘uzhavar sandhai’), 44 wholesale markets, 125 retail market shops and 45 mobile units.
Packed vegetables
Giving select illustrations, Mr. Bedi said several FPCs were also running 13 Primary Processing Centres (PPCs), wherein packing and sale of the produce were taken up along with the activity of processing. The Pochampalli PPC in Krishnagiri district, being operated by the Theni Fruits and Vegetables Producers’ Group, an arm of Tamil Nadu Banana Producers’ Company, supplies packed vegetables to Tamil Nadu Horticulture Development Agency for the E-thottam online market.
A few days ago, the group along with Greeners Agro Products India exported 12 tonnes of tomatoes to Maldives. “Today, Our Cumbum Western Ghats Banana Producer Group [another arm of the Producers’ Company], is engaged in exporting 30 tonnes of banana to Iran,” Mr. Bedi pointed out, adding that FPCs in Nilgiris were doing online sale by having a tie-up with the delivery app Zomato.
However, there is a different view about the role of the FPOs. Arupathy Kalyanam, a leading farmer of Mayiladuthurai, said that though the concept of the FPOs was laudable, such organisations in the Cauvery delta were yet to make a big impact. In the name of enlisting more farmers, such organisations may stretch beyond a cluster of three or four contiguously-located villages. “Such an approach may not serve the interests of farmers in the long run and it should not be pursued,” Mr. Kalyanam cautioned.
