Millets Giveaway- a special marketing campaign for smaller farmers

New Delhi: Millets Giveaway is a special marketing campaign being undertaken by Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium, a Society promoted by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India.

Under the campaign SFAC aims to promote buying directly from FPO (Farmer Producer Organisation) farmers with the aim of supporting small & marginal farmers of the country.

Dr Maninder Kaur Dwivedi, Managing Director, Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said that citizens are being encouraged to buy directly from FPOs selling millets via ONDC’s My Store, the Connected marketplace built in India for Indian sellers. The Giveaway campaign supports three main areas –

• Motivates general public to buy directly from FPO farmers. The buyers get pure and authentic produce and with their purchase they support livelihoods of the small & marginal farmers.

• Buyers get to experience how easy it is to use the ONDC’s My Store platform

• Millets being the focus for the year with #IYM2023, this campaign motivates more people to adopt #Shree Ann

Speaking about Hulsoor Mahila Kisan Millets Producer Company Limited, founded on March 2, 2021, Dr Kaur said, it is involved in crop cultivation, horticulture, providing support & services to farmers. The FPO resulted in a long-term change in the lifestyle of the farmers of Karnataka’s Hulsoor block.

Before joining the FPO, farmers used to cultivate traditional varieties of various crops using conventional farming methods. It added millet to these farmers’ crop portfolios as a new crop. FPO recently established its own input shop, where members can purchase high-quality seeds, fertiliser, and other inputs at reduced prices.

The FPO also has a custom hiring centre where farmers can rent farm machinery. As a result of demonstrated crop cultivation techniques and Good Agricultural Practices to FPO farmers, average crop productivity increased by 30-50%.