Anantnag: Anantnag district has got the Sheep rearers FPO registered under a project funded by NABARD. The said FPO has been incorporated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt of India as farmer Producer Company under the name “Wyeth Sheep Producer Company Ltd”. The project is being implemented by the Department of Sheep Husbandry, Govt of J&K.
In a statement Director Sheep Husbandry Dr Rafiq Ahmad Shah said that this was a pilot FPO Project sanctioned to Sheep Husbandry Department with support from NABARD to bring together the sheep rearers in the district and work in a unified manner. The main aim of forming an FPO was to establish a common facility center and to tap the huge business scope in mutton and wool industry. He said that this FPO will be a business enterprise which will be owned, run and managed by sheep rearers only and the department would provide every possible support to them.
District Development Manager NABARD Anantnag, Rouf Zargar stated that this was the first FPO in Kashmir to have been registered under the Companies Act under the PODF grant fund of NABARD. This is a pilot project to promote cluster-based sheep rearing and wool production activity in Anantnag and the registration of FPO was a major achievement, he said. With a scope of associating more than 200 Sheep rearers as members of FPO, there are currently 45 farmers who have joined the FPO which include 10 board of directors among these farmers.
Pertinently, the Govt of J&K has been laying special focus on formation of FPOs in all allied sectors of agriculture. Various beneficial schemes have been launched by the government under Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) for FPOs wherein benefits are extended to hundreds of farmers through FPO umbrella.
