Take steps to establish 150 FPOs in Nellore dist: Collector Shukla

 Nellore: District Collector Himanshu Shukla has directed the officials to ensure establishment of 150 Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the district, while addressing 7th district-level FPOs monitoring committee meeting at his chamber here on Thursday.

Stating that the government is giving top priority for agriculture as 80 percent of farmers are depending on cultivation, the Collector has ordered the officials to play a crucial role in the development of cultivation across the district.

Informing that at present there are 108 FPOs in the district, he specified that the number of FPOs will be increased to 150 by December 15.

The Collector noted that development of agriculture is possible only by increasing FPOs, which will play a key role in supplying seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and other agriculture needs also recommends farm mechanisation to ease labour burden during peak agriculture season.

He stressed that it is mandatory for FPOs to maintain Goods Service Tax and Food Safety Standards of India.

Shukla suggested farmers to concentrate more on cultivating fruits, vegetables, other commercial crops and flowery culture along with paddy, as they will secure expected profits with less investments.

The Collector has explained how Netherlands, a small country, is supplying fruits, vegetables, milk to other countries by adopting highly sophisticated scientific methods in cultivation.

District Agriculture Officer P Satya Vani, Fisheries JD Santhi, Animal Husbandry JD Ramesh Naik, NABARD DDM Babu and others were present.