Collective farming to benefit 400 more small farmers

Udhagamandalam: The horticulture department is planning to form 20 farmers’ producer groups (FPG) in the Nilgiris district this fiscal to promote collective farming.
While the majority of farmers in the Nilgiris cultivate tea, 30% of them are engaged in vegetable cultivation. “Introduced in 2018, the main objective of the scheme is to encourage small farmers cultivate hill-grown vegetables,” said joint director of horticulture department Shiva Subramaniam Samraj.
Each FPG, comprising 100 small farmers, is entitled to a grant of Rs 5 lakh for procurement of agricultural engineering products. This fiscal, 400 more small farmers will be benefited by the scheme. “While the government use to sanction fund for 16 FPGs in the previous years, 20 FPGs will benefit by the scheme this year,” the official said.
Under the scheme, clusters of farmers of same interest from same area are grouped together so that their combined effort would make farming much easier. Twenty farmers of same interest from the same area will form farmers interest group (FIG). FIGs will open a bank account by pooling Rs 1,000 from each member. Five FIGs will form an FPG and every FPG will open another a bank account for common fund utilization and receive funds from the government.
FPGs will be granted Rs 5 lakh to buy machinery including tractors and tillers. They can also avail subsidy under various schemes of the horticulture department.
“It is encouraging to learn that 400 more farmers will benefit this year,” said M Murugan, a farmer in Ooty.
As many as 48 FPGs (4,800 farmers) in the Nilgiris were benefited by the scheme in the last three years.