5,000 Farmer Producer Orgs Onboarded on ONDC Portal

New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) The government on Friday said almost 5,000 out of 8,000 registered Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) have been onboarded on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) portal for selling the produce online to consumers across the country.

Around 8,000 FPOs have been registered against the government's target of 10,000 under a central scheme launched in 2020 with a budgetary provision of Rs 6,865 crore. FPOs facilitate farmers with access to improved technology, credit, better input and more markets to incentivise them to produce better quality commodities.

"Almost 5,000 out of 8,000 registered FPOs have been registered on the ONDC portal...," the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The onboarding of FPOs on ONDC to reach out to their buyers in any part of the country is in line with the Central government's objective of providing growers with better market access, it said.

The move aims to empower FPOs with direct access to digital marketing, online payment, business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions.

The ministry said the formation and promotion of FPOs is the first step for converting "Krishi into Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) Krishi." The initiative enhances cost-effective production and productivity and higher net incomes for the members of the FPO.

It also improves the rural economy and creates job opportunities for rural youths in villages itself. This was the major step towards improving farmers' income substantially, it added.

Under the central scheme, FPOs are provided with financial assistance of up to Rs 18 lakh per FPO for a period of three years. In addition, a provision has been made for matching equity grants of up to Rs 2,000 per farmer member of FPO with a limit of Rs 15 lakh per FPO and a credit guarantee facility of up to Rs 2 crore of project loan per FPO from the eligible lending institution to ensure institutional credit accessibility to FPOs.

So far, the credit guarantee has been issued to 1,101 FPOs worth guaranteed coverage of Rs 246 crore covering more than 10.2 lakh farmers. Matching equity grant amounting to Rs 145.1 crore has been transferred directly to the bank account of the eligible 3,187 FPOs, the ministry added.