Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
channels of income strengthened for a farmer. While industrial tie-ups
work out to be a safety net, FPOs can cut down wastage of fruits, get better
prices and reduce transportation expenditures, by selling the produce in
local markets and to local businesses.
Some suggestions towards strengthening the FPOs as viable business
entities towards optimizing the income of farmer members are:
1. Fix a price for the fruits to be sold in the area that will not
fluctuate with changes in the quantum of production.
2. One of the costly inputs for a farmer – besides soil input – is land
treatment, which requires farm machinery. If FPOs can own farm
equipment commonly used by all its farmers, it can rent them at
a lower rate than the market rate. This is a win-win situation for
the FPO and the farmers renting from it. This model of renting
farm equipment is successfully functional in one of the FPOs in
Covenant Centre for Development (CCD), Madurai.
3. Tie-up with the local anganwadis, schools, government hostels,
government hospitals and private hospitals to supply the
local fruit produce nutritional supplements for children and
patients in the area. A state level policy intervention would be
needed to mainstream this practice. Gram Panchayat offices,
all other government offices, and Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, can create publicity about local produce and
markets which provide better profits. This may also cut down on
waste that happens to perishables irrespective of cold storage
facilities.
4. Sell the produce under a local brand in the local and weekly
markets directly to consumers.
5. Invest in local warehouses and cold storage to address the waste
of large-scale produce aggregated from farmers of the FPO.
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