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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
level. The village and cluster level operations are envisaged
to be managed by FPOs, while the main processing unit is to
be managed by the industry. There needs to be a guaranteed
buyback arrangement from the industry so that the farmers are
not at the mercy of the market for their produce.
Interaction with Shri Muthuvelayutham, a key functionary of The
Covenant Centre for Development, Madurai, provided certain insights on
the scale at which FPOs can operate. He has an experience of setting up
and working with more than 62 FPOs involving more than 25,000 farmers
in the last 13 years, and facilitating tie-ups with agri-business like Dabur,
Himalaya, Patanjali and other international brands. Some of the FPOs
tried to get into value addition of their fruits by setting up pulping units.
But they did not have the capabilities and finances to keep pace with
improvements in technology and changing market demands.
Before asking the farmers to grow tree-based raw materials, it is
suggested that government bodies like SFAC encourage industries who
use these materials to first set up their units in the area and guarantee
buyback from the farmers. This model is followed by EID-Parry in Tamil
Nadu to procure guaranteed buyback of neem seeds from farmers of a
particular district of Tamil Nadu for production of Azadirachtin.
COMPULSORY CROP AND LIVESTOCK INSURANCE
To de-risk the farmers from unforeseen scenarios, the farmers in
the target region should be encouraged to take up crop and livestock
insurance as an important step for transition to tree-based agriculture.
Livestock plays an important role during droughts and other difficult
times by augmenting the farmers’ income. Therefore, integrating
livestock management and insurance will provide a safety net for the
farmers during the transition period. This de-risking may ease their
worries of transition to agro-forestry based farming. The present crop
insurance regime does not cover horticulture and multi-purpose trees
in entirety. There are ongoing discussions and policy documents about
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