NABARD Grants 35 Crore to IIT Mandi for Farmer Producer Organisations

IIT Mandi and its Enabling Women Kamand (EWOK) Society have signed an MoA with NABARD on February 22, 2020, to establish FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations) in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.

Dr. Venkata Krishnan (Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, IIT Mandi), Mr. Nilay Kapoor (Chief General Manager, NABARD) and Ms. Sandhya Menon (Secretary, EWOK Society) signed the MoA.

Dr. Venkata Krishnan addressed people in which he talked about the collaboration. He said that it is a pleasure for IIT Mandi to collaborate with NABARD and the newly signed MoA will help the Institute to connect with the community on Himachal Pradesh on a large scale.

While addressing the press, Mr. Nilay Kapoor said that NABARD is glad to sanction three Farmer Producer Organizations to IIT and EWOK, Mandi. He said that the collaboration will act as a new beginning with the preeminent institute of India, IIT Mandi. He further added that the Regional office of NABARD the tri-partite agreement will help develop farmer-friendly equipment and opportunities will be explored for IoT in Agriculture, Watershed, Rural Mart, etc. He further added that the collaboration will be a long term achievement to solve the problems of farmers and double their income in the state.

The MoA was signed after brainstorming meetings that were conducted between December 2019 to February 2020. In the meeting, the key areas related to farm and non- farm sector in Himachal Pradesh was identified after which NABARD decided to sanction Rs. 35 lakhs to IIT Mandi and EWO. Three Farmer Producer Organisations will be set up in the next 3 years.

About Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO)

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) is a registered body comprising a group of farm producers and members as shareholders in an organization. The body deals with farm-related business activities and works for their benefits.

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IIT Mandi and the EWOK society will first identify the clusters for setting FPO. Then they will create awareness among farmers after which the FPO will be established and registered. IIT, Mandi and EWO will also train the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors of the FPO to help them prepare business plans and assist them in raising credits and loans.

Apart from setting FPO, the Institute will also provide expertise in tourism, engineering solutions for farm-friendly equipment, rural marts run by Self-Help Groups (SHGs), research on the impact of climate change on Agri incomes, etc.

About EWOK

Registered as a society in 2019 the Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK) is an initiative of IIT Mandi Women's Center. EWOK works to help the rural women to set up small enterprises through information, guidance and training in 5 panchayats namely Kamand, Kataula, Katindhi, Batheri and Navlayain in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.

EWOK is also working to establish a model through which they can identify the skills and aspirations of women from rural regions and help them groom their skills. Till now, EWOK has managed to support 12 women entrepreneurs in the Kamand region.

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In an address to people, Ms. Sandhya Menon said that EWOK works for both farm and non-farm sectors and encourages women entrepreneurs in the greater Kamand area. EWOS has earlier worked with the IIT Mandi Medicinal Plant lab in farm-related activities through which some successful pilot programmes have been running for the past 2 years. She further added that the support from NABARD will help to scale the programmes and help develop sustainable models that will improve the income of farmers in the long term.

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