National policy on farmer producer organisations for cheaper loans

Suggests making Amul-like three-tier institutional architecture for FPOs

A national policy on farmer producer organisations (FPOs) has proposed a slew of measures, including providing cheaper institutional loans and a three-tier Amul-like model, to help and benefit millions of farmers.

The draft national policy advocates a special sub-set within primary sector lending norms of banks to make lending to FPOs easier. 

It pitches for a scheme to incentivise hiring talent in FPOs, and encouraging farmer groups to establish agribusiness marketplaces acting as deemed ‘mandis’ under the state agricultural produce laws.

The draft proposes that marketplaces by primary FPOs act as aggregators of farmer produce, provide quality