FPOs in Sivaganga district are performing well; shareholders get dividend

Collector Asha Ajith inaugurated a solar dryer unit set up by Syngenta at Illayankudi.

The Farmers’ Producers Organisations in Illayankudi have performed well that their shareholders received dividend after the FPO fetched profits through sale of proceeds, including by e-nam facility, said Sivaganga Collector Asha Ajith.

Speaking at a function held on Sunday to hand over a newly established solar dryer unit at ₹14 lakh, with the support of Syngenta through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund, she said that the farmers were in an upbeat mood as the new facility would go a long way to store the produce and help earn higher price due to better quality.

Thanking the Syngenta, which had earlier desilted a tank in Nalukottai, the Collector listed out the various measures taken by the Tamil Nadu government for upliftment of the farming sector. She said, apart from the government, such contributions from the NGOs and through corporate houses would encourage the farmers to achieve more in the coming years.

Recently, the Illayankudi FPO, which had procured chilly, paddy and among other produce from the farmers and sold through e-nam, had earned a revenue of ₹15.5 lakh, a record of sorts by a FPO in the State.

Covering Singampunari, S. Pudur and Tirupathur blocks, a FPO – Sri Avudaya Vinayagar Sangam enrolled 1,000 farmers as shareholders. The Syngenta through Hand-in-Hand India, NGO, provided a drying yard made of Kadapa slabs worth ₹11 lakh.

A storage unit for the farmers was also under construction, Ms. Asha Ajith said and added that the FPO, which procured coconut, copra, fibre, groundnut, tamarind and paddy and among other produce, sold them through online facility to the farmers and other merchants.

Appreciating the FPO shareholders and its director, the Collector said that from a meagre turnover of ₹12.03 lakh in 2021-22, they reported ₹55 lakh in 2022-23, ₹3.05 crore in 2023-24 and in the current year up to December 20, they had achieved a whopping ₹4.55 crore.

Sharing the dividend to its shareholders, the FPO gave ₹200 each to all the 1,000 members from its earnings, which had come in as a fillip to the farming sector.

Syngenta Director Vythianathan, Hand-in-Hand India Vice-President Kannan, Joint Director (Agri Marketing) Amudan, Deputy Director Tamil Selvi, Agriculture Officers K. Kanimozhi and Bhuvaneswari, FPO Directors Sundar and Alagarsami participated.