New Delhi, Mar 16 (IANS): The Narendra Modi government has said that the Central government has created 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and registered them with the help of various state wise agencies under the Central Sector Scheme (CCS) and an amount of Rs 14.05 crore has been transferred to 352 FPOs towards matching equity grant.

So far, a total of Rs 108.82 crore has been released as FPO Management Cost under 10,000 FPOs scheme.

The Modi government has promoted 225 women FPOs by different implementing agencies. It is being done to empower women farmers and their representatives.

It said that under the new FPO scheme, 421 FPOs have been registered by different implementing agencies (IAs) in aspirational districts.

"Under the said Central Sector Scheme (CSS), an amount of Rs 14.05 crore has been transferred to 352 FPOs towards matching equity grant. The FPO management cost is also disbursed by the department to the concerned implementing agencies for onward transferring to the respective FPOs. So far, a total of Rs 108.82 crore has been released as FPO Management Cost under 10,000 FPOs scheme," the government said.

As per operational guidelines of the CSS women farmers' participation as shareholders of FPOs is preferred and in the Board of Directors (BoD) and Governing Body (GB), as the case may be, there shall be adequate representation of women farmer member(s) and there should be minimum one woman member.

So far, 225 women FPOs have been promoted by different implementing agencies.