10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations to be converted into CSCs

New Delhi: Common Services Centers Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC SPV) and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on Friday signed an MoU to convert Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) registered under 'Formation & Promotion of 10,000 FPOs scheme' into CSCs and help them to deliver citizen-centric services.

As per the MoU, 10,000 FPOs will be converted into CSCs. CSC SPV will enable them to provide the services that are available on the Digital Seva Portal.

Training and Capacity Building of FPOs will also be done by CSCs, the Ministry of Electronics & IT said.

"With this initiative, more farmers who are associated with FPOs will be able to avail the benefits of CSC services. This will enable FPOs to provide citizens with all the services that are available on CSC Scheme's Digital Seva Portal," said Sanjay Rakesh, MD-CEO, CSC SPV.

The government launched the Central Sector Scheme for "Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs" in 2020 to enable farmers to enhance their bargaining power, leverage economies of scale, reduce in cost of production and enhance farmers' incomes through aggregation of their agricultural produce.

According to the IT ministry, after this initiative, the delivery of CSC services through FPOs will boost employment opportunities in rural areas.

In addition, this initiative will help FPOs to become a nodal centre for providing various services like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Interest Subsidy Scheme (ISS), Crop Insurance Scheme (PMFBY) and fertiliser and seed inputs.