Pune: Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) on Wednesday organised Maharashtra Agri-Business Conclave (MAC) in Yashada Baner.
The conclave aimed at strengthening the existing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and to explore innovative and effective strategies for enhancement of capacity building and sustainability of FPOs through technology, finance and input supply.
Senior government officials, corporates, bankers and several other stakeholders were present. Sumanta Chaudhuri, MD SFAC and BR Patel, General Manager, Head-Rural, Agri Banking and CSR, Bank of Baroda signed a MoU for comprehensive growth and development of Farmer Producer Organisations.
Inaugurating the MAC, Sumanta Chaudhari said, “FPOs aim to enhance farmers’ competitiveness and increase their advantage in emerging market opportunities.
“We need to maximise the number of FPOs in Maharashtra through agribusiness incubators, to engage more stakeholders in making agriculture more sustainable and profitable.
“We intend to make the farmers not just self-sufficient, but prosperous as well. The government is focused on the development of farmers and agriculture activities in the country.”
Speaking at the event, BR Patel said that the bank has made a commitment of Rs 3.09 crore to SFAC. “We will be playing a lead role in promoting FPO for which we are working ahead for more tie-ups.
“We have also started sensitisation programme for the same,” added Patel.
The Maharashtra Agribusiness Conclave aims to develop the market linkages for the sustainability of FPOs by creating a platform for all stakeholders to come together and identify the challenges faced by farmers in Maharashtra. The purpose is to make agriculture profitable by involving farmers along the entire agricultural value chain through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
