Bhubaneswar, Nov 10: A technical session on the financing and scaling up operations of the Millet Service Centres (MSCs) and other schemes for Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) was organised by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment at Janta Maidan here, commemorating the International Year of Millets.
A detailed discussion was held on how to transform FPOs into MSCs under the Odisha Millet Mission (OMM).
The establishment of the MSC is aimed at fulfilling the growing requirements and demands of Millet product users, both within and outside the state. OMM has identified several compelling reasons that advocate for the establishment of this service centre through the FPOs and the WSHG Federation.
One of the key objectives of OMM is to promote FPOs/WSHGs in providing millet-centric equipment, processing machines, aggregation services, marketing, and value addition. In this context, the vision is to transform FPOs under OMM into "Millet Service Centres," offering end-to-end support services to millet farmers to enhance their income and improve their livelihoods.
The establishment of the Millet Service Centre will be financially supported by APICOL, contributing 40% through the MKUY Scheme, 40% through OMM, with the remaining amount to be borne by the relevant FPOs/WSHGs Federation.
