Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday asked farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to operate in a hybrid model by linking themselves with Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) through agreement to provide services to the members of the cooperatives.

Addressing a conclave in Delhi, Shah said “I want to urge those already set up 11,000-odd FPOs that you continue to operate as FPO. But link yourself with one or two PACS and work in a hybrid model. If you do so, it will bring miracles in PACS.” FPOs can have an agreement with PACS to provide services to farmers who are members of the cooperative, he added.

Shah asked National Cooperative Development Council and officials of the cooperation ministry to finalise a draft agreement in this regard to help PACS and FPOs get into agreements for sharing information, marketing and profit.

The minister also said that agriculture can become a profitable venture if modern technology is adopted. He stressed on the need to strengthen marketing and said FPOs can help further enhance the contribution of agriculture and allied sectors to the country’s GDP.

“If you increase GDP through manufacturing, the job creation will not be much. If you strengthen agriculture and allied sector through cooperatives, not only GDP but job opportunities will also increase,” he said. Although agriculture and allied sectors are contributing about 17.5-18 per cent to the country’s GDP, higher than many other sectors, the situation of farmers is not as good as the people engaged in the services sector, he said.

In addition to existing FPOs, the government has set a target to set up 10,000 FPOs by 2027-28 under q scheme of the agriculture ministry. Of which, the cooperative ministry has been given the mandate to set up 1,100 FPOs.

Highlighting that a committee had suggested creation of FPOs in 2003 during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he claimed that it was kept in cold storage (during UPA government). It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who decided to promote FPOs to further boost the farm and allied sectors.

According to Shah, currently, 11,770 FPOs are working in the country and lakhs of farmers are benefitting from them. The Centre in 2020 launched the Central Sector Scheme for Formation and Promotion of FPOs with an outlay of ₹6,865 crore as part of measures to increase farmer income. A total of 6,319 FPOs have already been registered under the scheme till date, the agriculture ministry said on July 12.

The minister also said there are several types of FPOs -- the one run by individuals, partnerships, companies and now PACS. But FPOs formed by PACS are more capable to provide benefits to farmers as compared to FPOs set up by individuals, companies and partnerships, he added.

PACS, FPOs and Self Help Groups are the three organisations which will help in achieving agriculture growth and rural development in future, Shah said.