The Rupnagar Producer Company was recently adjudged the best performing FPO out of 103 FPOs in Punjab – making it the second time they have taken away this award. The FPO was felicitated by the Honorable Minister of Finance, Shri Manpreet Singh Badal during the State Credit Seminar organized by NABARD.

With an aim to establish a model for sustainable agriculture and institution building at a local level ACF facilitated the formation of the Rupnagar Producer Company Limited in 2013.  What kickstarted with just 10 farmers back then has now swelled to 330 farmers who are a part of the producer company from 27 villages of Ropar district.

The FPO’s primary activity at inception was the aggregation and supply of biomass to the local Ambuja Cements Limited plant. However through the years, driven by demand, it has expanded its activities to include procurement of agro-inputs, a farmer mall and a farm machinery bank. This has helped farmers eliminate the middleman, helped farmers receive a good market price for their produce and provided access to expensive machinery at a low cost to small and marginal farmers.

This is the second time the FPO has received state recognition for its work and buoyed by the accolade, they aim to expand to 500 members in the near future. The company is known to have frequent training sessions and exposure visits to expand its business activities - resulting in profitable outcomes for farmers.

ACF, as part of its Agro-Based Livelihood programme, builds people’s institutions like Farmer Producer Companies to help farmers gain confidence, work collectively and form strong market linkages. ACF acts as a catalyst in getting the farmers together, strengthens their governance and compliance requirements, ensures joint bulk procurement and helps to facilitate market linkages.

To know more about FPOs, please write to ACF’s Head of Programs, chandrakant.kumbhani.ext@ambujafoundation.com