Summary:
Visakhapatnam: In an effort to increase procurement and ease the process of payment to farmers cultivating turmeric in the Agency area the ITDA has decided to float a revolving fund of Rs 50 lakh, according to sources in the ITDA. Turmeric cultivation is spread over 9,297 acres in the 11 Agency mandals in the district. The farmers had to wait to get their money. This fund will be used to make initial payments to Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs).ITDA PO, DK Balaji said, “Earlier there was a problem regarding procurement as we had to sell the produce first to purchasing agencies (mainly GCC) before making the payment to the farmers. “We have decided to train FPO members to market the produce themselves, eliminating the middlemen and have roped in the services of Tata Trust to train them..