Collective farming will help inmaking agriculture profitable

The State government initiative to promote collective farming would help farmers pool their resources and make agriculture a profitable vocation, said V. Dakshinamurthy, Director of Agriculture, here on Friday.

Inaugurating a training programme on collective farming scheme for officers of the departments of Agriculture, Horticulture and Agri Marketing and Agri Business, Mr. Dakshinamurthy said the initiative was aimed at increasing the income of small and marginal farmers through collective farming and pooling of resources.

Individually, they had limited capacity to mobilise credit, adopt latest technologies and add value to their produce. The farmers could select the crop, jointly buy inputs for cultivation, share labour, take up joint marketing and add value to the produce.

Under the initiative, collective farming would be encouraged by creating farmers interest groups (FIG), farmer producers groups (FPG) and farmers producer organisations (FPO). Each FPG would get ₹5 lakh based on their proposal for strengthening infrastructure.Resources such as cattle and machinery could be combined to start collective cultivation for realising the benefit of large-scale farming. As a group, the farmers would also have better access to credit. A district-level committee headed by the respective Collectors would be formed to monitor implementation of the scheme, Mr.Dakshinamurthy said.

The scheme would not only help improve foodgrain production but also help farmers add value to their produce. In Tiruvarur district, about 3,600 farmers would benefit from the scheme.

Officials from Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Ariyalur and Perambalur participated in the training, an official press release said.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/collective-farming-will-help-inmaking-agriculture-profitable/article20160587.ece