UDUPI: Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shobha Karandlaje said that the ministry is aware of the sorry state of affairs of small landholders, and plans are being chalked out to set up 10,000 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) across the country.
“Once farmers with not more than five acres of farm land and who constitute 80 per cent of the agri community are brought under the FPO, the government will help them in procuring seeds, fertilizer and extend marketing assistance,” she told reporters during her visit to Udupi for the ‘Janashirvada Yatre’ on Thursday.
She said that after India passed a resolution on millets in the United Nations, all member nations voted in its favour and 2023 was declared the ‘International Year of Millets’. This, the minister said, will help boost the demand for the organic millets grown by Indian farmers globally, and farmers in dry lands of India will be motivated to grow more millets.
“India is highly dependent on import for sourcing pulses, cereals and edible oil. Seventy per cent of our edible oil need is met through import. Except for people of Coastal Karnataka and Kerala, who source coconut oil for cooking needs, the rest of India is highly dependent on edible oil that come blended with palm oil imported from Indonesia and Malaysia. So currently, India is spending highly on import of edible oil, she said. Efforts are on to set up industries that can process oil seed and conduct research on making oil seed cultivation profitable in the dry land belt.