New Delhi
Parshottam Rupala, the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, released on August 17 a first-of-its-kind handbook on the formation and promotion of Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs) under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
Sundeep Kumar Nayak, Managing Director, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, were also present on the occasion.
Rupala said, “PMMSY, a flagship scheme for fishers, provides financial and technical assistance for setting up FFPOs to economically empower the fish farmers and help enhance their bargaining power to make them atmanirbhar (self-reliant) as envisaged by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji.”
“We have been holding various awareness and sensitization programmes for the promotion of FFPOs in the past several months. The NCDC has pioneered registration of FFPO cooperatives in the country,” said Nayak.
The Department of Fisheries has kept a target of forming 500 FFPOs in the country, of which 50 FFPOs will be formed by the NCDC in the first year under the Cooperative Societies Act, Swain added.
The handbook provides a road map for setting up of an FFPO as cooperative and spells out simple steps to be taken by Community Based Business Organization engaged by NCDC.
The Laxmanrao Inamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research and Development and the Regional Training Centre of NCDC have conducted a series of awareness and training programmes for fishermen and fisherwomen across the country at the state and district level during the current year.