Agitation not solution, says farmers organisation

A farmers outfit on Fridaysaid large-scale agitation as is being witnessed in thenational capital and states seeking repeal of three farm lawsintroduced by the Centre is not a solution.

Instead, the farmers should form an organisation anddecide themselves on the price of their produce, saidVellangiri Uzhavan, a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO).

The farmers can form FPOs and fix prices so that theyneed not depend on middlemen, mandis, traders or thegovernment to market their produce, president of VellangiriUzhavan Kumar told reporters here.

Established in 2013 through the Isha Outreachprogramme, the FPO had a turnover of Rs 40,000 in the firstyear, which stood at Rs 11 crore last financial year and wasexpected to cross Rs 12.5 crore this fiscal, he said.

On the three farm laws, he said even earlier,restrictions have not affected the FPO and the new laws wouldnot affect the ryots as the prices and markets were decidedupon by the farmers themselves.

Vellangiri Uzhavan Farmers Producer Company Ltd is thetop-ranked FPO in Tamil Nadu and among the top 10 in thecountry.

The income of the over 1,000 member-farmers hadincreased significantly since they joined the company, hesaid.

The company recently exported 15 types of vegetablesweighing five tonnes to Qatar at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore, hesaid. PTI NVMNVG NVG