ITC to increase FPOs to 4,000 in next 4 years linking a crore farmers, scale up super app MAARS
ITC is expanding its network of FPOs, further aiming to connect one crore farmers in the next 4-5 years and scaling up sourcing of fruits and vegetables through this platform, said its Agri Business Division CEO S Ganesh. ITC, present in around 22 states through FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) and working on 20 crops, has plans to expand and deepen it further in states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar.
Besides, ITC is working on expanding the reach of its super app MAARS — a 'phygital' initiative with FPOs through which it is providing personalised advisories to farmers from weather forecast to sales of crops at mandi prices, supply of seeds and fertiliser and services as soil testing to helping them get credit from banks.
Through MAARS (Metamarket for Advanced Agriculture Rural Services), ITC is also enhancing agricultural practices to small farmers through technology aggregation, AI-enabled solutions, AgTech and an e-marketplace for commodities and inputs.
«This agri stack and the FPO collectivization is today, at about 1,600 and our ambition is to take it to 4,000 and 10 million farmers in next 4 to 5 years,» Ganesh told PTI.
ITC is now expanding these FPOs beyond the purchase of traditional crops such as wheat, paddy, maize, soya, chilli and cumins to green peas, mangoes, fruits and green vegetables through a cluster-based approach, he added.
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