On-Campus Training Programme on ‘Strengthening of Farmer Producer Organizations in Agriculture’ for the Officers of Department of Agriculture Marketing and Agri Busines, Tamil Nadu State from 2 nd - 6 th June, 2025

Strengthening Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in India is crucial for the economic and social wellbeing of small and marginal farmers, who constitute a large portion of the agricultural workforce. By enabling them to access quality inputs, services, and technologies, FPOs help to improve productivity and reduce production costs. They also facilitate collective marketing, processing, and value addition, leading to better prices and market access for farmers. Keeping this in view Extension Education Institute, Hyderabad has planned to organize 5 day on campus training programme on Strengthening Farmer Producer Organizations from 2nd – 6th June, 2025 at EEI, Hyderabad. During the inauguration Dr. M. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Director, EEI, Hyderabad said that, in order to increase the contribution of agriculture in to the country’s GDP and to maintain the momentum of growth rate there is every need to engage the farmers in supply and value chain management in agriculture, hence there is a dire need to work with FPOs. Content covered in the programme was- SWOC analysis for strengthening of FPOs Formation, Strengthening and Management of Farmer Producer Organizations: An Overview of policy, Process, guidelines etc. Challenges and strategies for sustainability of FPOs in agriculture Marketing strategies for successful FPOs in Agriculture Development of business plans/DPRs for FPOs Role of Financial Institutions for promotion of FPOs, Gender Mainstreaming and budgeting in agriculture sector, GOI Programmes and Schemes in agri and allied sectors, Extension Strategies for Strengthening of Farmer Producer Organizations in Agriculture and field visit to Kattangur FPO. On the occasion of valediction, emphasized that, the next level of agricultural extension will be visualized through onboarding the FPOs, Startups, Agribusiness companies, private firms etc. So, the extension officials should understand the logistics to work with and strengthen the FPOs to increase the technology adoption and improve the net profits in agriculture. During the feedback, the participants opined that, they have completely understood the algorithms in functioning of FPOs, ways and means of strengthening the FPOs, and the insights drawn from field visit to the Kattangur FPO are more pragmatic and relevant to apply in other FPOs. Nineteen middle level extension officials of Dept. of agricultural Marketing and Agribusiness of Tamil Nadu state were attended the training programme, which was coordinated by Dr.P.Vijayalaxmi, Professor, EEI, Hyderabad