The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently organized a series of Farmers Producers Organization (FPO) camps in multiple districts across West Bengal – on 30th November 2023 over 50 FPOs from North and South 24 Parganas joined the FPO camp held at The Bengal Chamber, Kolkata while another round of FPO outreach camp was held in Chuchura on 8th December 2023, where around 40 FPOs from Howrah and Hooghly joined for an interactive knowledge session with the State Bank of India (SBI) and IFFCO representatives.

The camps were held in collaboration with the State Bank of India (SBI) where the focal point was to inform FPOs regarding various provisions of loans and funding available for them and a team of SBI representatives specializing in facilitating loans and funding for FPOs was present to directly interact with the FPOs. They provided the attendees with an insightful presentation, including different funding options available for the FPOs according to their needs as well as qualifying criteria to help FPOs decision makers make the right decision for themselves.

On 21st December, 73 FPOs from Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling and Kalimpong joined the FPO outreach program, while on 22nd December 35 FPOs from Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda joined the camp in Raiganj, thus covering over 100 FPOs at grassroots level in North Bengal region with the aim to empower farmers in every rural corner of Bengal.

As part of our endeavor to cover all districts of West Bengal, another round of FPO camp was organized on 5th January 2024 in  where 55 FPOs joined the camp from Murshidabad district. 

This district basis interaction between SBI and FPOs helped facilitating direct interaction between the bank with the FPOs and they were able to raise their questions and concerns regarding loans and funding policies with the SBI team, who offered their valuable guidance.

IFFCO also conducted informative knowledge sessions in every FPO outreach camp where an agriculture expert talked about reducing use of chemical fertilizer for sustainable farming practices as well as encouraged farmers to adopt environmentally friendly alternatives of chemical fertilizers highlighting the risks of overusing them putting emphasize on regenerative agricultural practices.

IFFCO also talked about the latest technological innovations in fertilizer sector specially nano fertilizers that will help farmers use fertilizers judiciously as they provide greater crop yield with less amount of usage therefore lowering the environmental impact of chemical fertilizers. Apart from this, IFFCO’s expert also talked about crop management and IFFCO licensing and dealership.

These camps also helped FPOs network with each other in their respective districts and gain a better understanding about market linkages, crop storage facilities, etc. The camps were successful in knowledge sharing regarding important areas of business for FPOs, such initiatives are important to help Indian rural livelihoods in a meaningful way that ensures the growth and prosperity of FPOs in their respective districts. 

The camps also had the support of Agricultural Marketing division of WBAS whose representatives gave valuable guidance to the FPOs regarding market linkages.