The SLAs appoint agents on ground who carry out the procurement from farmers. (Representative Image)Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been barred from being the nodal agencies for government procurement. In a letter to the all the chief secretaries of state and union governments, Joint Secretary of Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare P Anbalagan has listed out a series of intervention to ensure government procurement is efficienct and transparent.‘’In addition to Primary Cooperative Societies, state agency may also involve FPCs/FPOs, in procurement operations. However, preference must be given to PACS. Each PACS/FPO/FPC can open only one procurement center. The FPO/FPC must be a registered body having an average annual turnover of Rs 1 crore in the past 3 years. FPO/FPC can take procurement operation only in those village/taluka where its members are present. The registered office of FPO/FPC must be located within the same block/taluka in which the procurement is undertaken from registered farmers.However, it should be ensured that FPO/FPC shall not be allowed to act as State Level Agencies (SLA) for procurement under PSS..” the letter read.In order to help farmers realise better prices of commodities, the central government procures agricultural commodities under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Support Fund (PSF).Under PSS procurement, farmers are registered and allowed to sell their commodities under government declared Minimum Support Price (MSP). Under PSF, the government procures commodities from open markets to sell it directly for the benefit of consumers.The move relates to the appointment of State Level Agencies (SLA)s who act as sub agents of government agencies like National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF).The SLAs appoint agents on ground who carry out the procurement from farmers.Story continues below this adYogesh Thorat, managing director of MahaFPC, the state level federation, said this move would certainly be detrimental to the FPCs.“On one hand the ministry of agriculture is promoting FPCs but on the other hand moves like these act as brakes on their journey,”he said.Thorat said government procurement acts as incubation for FPCs.“Undertaking such procurement helps FPCs build knowledge and infrastructure to handle commodities. It is the first step towards entering the world of business,”he said.FPCs in Maharashtra were in the eye of a storm when charges of corruption were levelled against some of them who were involved in the procurement of onion last year.Story continues below this adMany farm bodies had alleged that the FPCs were being used as a front by traders to offload their produce.Thorat said such practices arose due to the weakness of the regulatory framework.On his part Anil Ghanwat, leader of farm union Shetkari Sanghtana welcomed the exclusion.“The nodal agencies did not do any work and just charged commission. We welcome their exclusion from being SLA,” he said.Partha Sarathi Biwas is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express with 10+ years of experience in reporting on Agriculture, Commodities and Developmental issues. He has been with The Indian Express since 2011 and earlier worked with DNA. Partha's report about Farmers Producer Companies (FPC) as well long pieces on various agricultural issues have been cited by various academic publications including those published by the Government of India. He is often invited as a visiting faculty to various schools of journalism to talk about development journalism and rural reporting. In his spare time Partha trains for marathons and has participated in multiple marathons and half marathons. ... Read MoreClick here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:pune