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Sitharaman inaugurates orientation for SFPC establishment in Arunachal Pradesh
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Friday, 28 April, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of state for commerce and industry (independent charge), inaugurated the orientation programme for the establishment of spice farmer producer companies (SFPCs) and buyer-seller meet at the Banquet Hall in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, recently. Organised by Spices Board, it was an initiative by the government of India to benefit the small and marginal spice farmers in the north-eastern states.
Over 100 spice farmers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), farmers’ associations and primary processors from Arunachal Pradesh and 35 big exporters from across the country came together for the orientation programme and buyer-seller meet, which was also attended by officials from the concerned departments and organisations of the state and Central government.
The objective of the programme is to operationalise SFPCs on a pilot basis in three districts - Ziro in Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh for large cardamom, Namsai in Namsai District of Arunachal Pradesh for ginger and West District in Sikkim for large cardamom - to empower the farmers, especially women, in the identified spice-growing districts, for better price realisation through post-harvest management, primary processing, value addition, packing, aggregation, organic certification, etc.
Each SFPC will have 500 farmers as members in a sub-division or district. They will be identified on cluster basis in a village, taluk or district by forming farmer interest groups (FIGs), each of which will comprise 20 farmers. Twenty-five such FIGs will be formed to establish a SFPC.
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