Organized Farming in India

In a reply given to the Rajya Sabha by the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, it was informed that the government has no specific scheme to promote organized farming. However, there are several other initiatives to promote industrial farming in the nation.

What steps are being taken?

• The Government has been promoting the formation of the Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs) with the expertise to have technical handholding and financial support.
• This will leverage the collectivization from pre-production to post-harvest marketing in organized farming.
• The body implementing the Government s vision is the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC).
• The Government is also trying to promote contract farming.
• The Central Government has also formulated and released the The (—State /UT) Agricultural Produce & Livestock Contract farming and Services (Promotion & facilitation) Act, 2018 in May, 2018 for its adoption by the States/Union Territories (UTs).
• This model act allows for the Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) to enter into agreements with the contract farming sponsors to spread all the benefits of contract farming along the agri-food value chain.

The Big Picture

Agriculture in India is uneconomical and unsustainable. It needs reform. The use of organized farming methods like contract farming allows smaller farmers to benefit from sub-contracting larger jobs. However, in our quest to adopt modern practices, traditional methods and processes must not be forgotten.