The Agriculture department is creating an institutional mechanism for ‘Krishikootams’ (farming collectives) by forming local body-level federations as well as committees at multiple levels for effective coordination and management.

The proposed federations will oversee the activities of ‘Krishikootams’ within a local body. They will carry out monthly reviews, offer guidance and adopt measures for empowering the collectives and assisting them with linkage with financial institutions, according to a set of guidelines prepared by the department.

In 107 local bodies

According to Agriculture department officials, the federations, which will be managed by a panel of seven to nine members, will be constituted in 107 local bodies in the first phase.

By guaranteeing better coordination for ‘Krishikootams’ at the ward and panchayat levels, the primary and secondary agricultural sectors can be strengthened in order to achieve the targets of agricultural self-sufficiency, increase in farmer incomes and safe-to-eat food, the Agriculture department notes.

‘Krishikootam’ collectives were formed as part of the ‘Njangalum Krishiyilekku’ campaign of the Agriculture department to promote household-level farming as part of the State’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetable production. These collectives were originally designed to function as self-regulated ‘farmers’ interest groups.’

23,569 collectives

Till June this year, 23,569 ‘Krishikootam’ collectives had registered through the Agriculture Information Management System (AIMS), according to State Assembly documents. They include collectives focussing on agricultural production, farming services and value-addition. The department is targeting 3 lakh job opportunities by 2026 through this scheme.

According to the guidelines, new ‘Krishikootams’ should ideally be constituted within a ward. Service and value addition-oriented collectives can spread over their activities across wards. The guidelines require the collectives to keep their membership to a maximum of 20 individuals and minimum of five. Bigger groups can be bifurcated. Defunct collectives should be reorganised. The guidelines also demand annual review of the activities and renewal of registration.

Identifying fallow land

The guidelines also call for the formation of ward-level execution committees with the ward member/councillor as its chairperson and the Assistant Agriculture Officer/Agriculture Assistant concerned as convener. These committees are tasked with need-based reorganisation of the collectives, and identification of unused or fallow land within the ward limits.

The guidelines also recommend the creation of committees at the local body, block, district, and State level. The Joint Director (Farmer Interest Group), Agriculture Department, will act as the State-level coordinator of the ‘Krishikootam’ collectives.