Source: SFAC Website
Vision
Promoting Agri-Business by encouraging institutional and private sector investments and linkages to ensure the empowerment of all farmers in the country.
Mission
To link small farmers to technology as well as to the markets in association with private, corporate or cooperative sector and if necessary, by providing backward and forward linkages.
About SFAC
- Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is an Autonomous Society promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. It was registered under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 on 18th January, 1994
- The Society is governed by a Board of Management which is chaired, ex-officio, by Hon’ble Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as the President and the Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, is the ex-officio Vice-President.
- Society is a pioneer in organising small and marginal farmers as Farmers Interest Groups, Farmers Producers Organisation and Farmers Producers Company for endowing them with bargaining power and economies of scale.
- It provides a platform for increased accessibility and cheaper availability of agricultural inputs to small and marginal farmers and in establishing forward and backward linkages in supply chain management.
- This initiative has triggered mobilization of farmers for aggregation across the country with ultimate aim of sustainable business model and augmented incomes.
- SFAC is an exclusive Society focused on increasing incomes of small and marginal farmers through aggregation and development of agribusiness.
- SFAC has pioneered the formation and growth of Farmer Producer Organizations/Farmer Producer Companies, which is now being implemented across the length and breadth of the country. SFAC is progressing towards establishing an eco system for FPOs/FPCs to make them sustainable and viable in the long run.
- SFAC offers Schemes like Equity Grant and Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme to FPCs to improve availability of working capital and development of business activities.
- SFAC promotes development of small agribusiness through its VCA Scheme for value added processing and marketing linkages.
- SFAC is also implementing the National Agriculture Market Electronic Trading (e-Nam) platform. The purpose is to provide for a single unified market for agricultural products with much higher price discovery for farmers.
Objectives
- To catalyze agro-industrial growth in the country based on the principles of:
(a) Ecological sustainability
(b) Economic efficiency
(c) Social equity - To undertake or assist in undertaking programs for employment generation, growth and diversification of agriculture & agro-based industries to increase food production and export of agriculture products, in both primary and processed forms.
- To identify and promote post-harvest processing/manufactures units in the public , private and cooperative sector.
- To promote organization of marketing chain both for domestic and export marketing.
- To influence Government policies for agriculture, there by increasing the flow of resources and augmenting the rate of capital formation in agriculture sector.
- To pave the way for establishment of integrated producers’ organizations with forward and backward linkages.
- To prepare, print and publish papers, periodicals, monographs in furtherance of the objectives of the society.
Work Scope
SFAC in addition to the endeavors complying with its core objectives, also takes up implementation of schemes and programs of various Government of India (GoI), Ministries and Departments and other Financial Institutions and Banks on a service charge basis. The SFAC society is currently implementing the following schemes and programs viz.
- The Schematic Pattern of Assistance from SFAC, out of GoI grants-in-aid for the promotion of value addition in the hands of farmers, through setting up part-processing, semi-processing and full-processing facilities through the setting up of AgriBusiness ventures all over the country mostly in collaboration with the private sector and active cooperation of commercial banks
- SFAC provides to agribusiness projects involving value addition in the hands of farmers. Most of these projects involve agri-partner and post harvest management, marketing etc.
- SFAC is endowed with the task of implementation of National Agriculture Market by setting up of an appropriate common e-market platform through private partnership that would be deployable in selected regulated wholesale markets in State/wholesale markets in States/Union Territories (UT) desirous of joining the e-platform.
- SFAC has been identified as a central procurement agency by GoI for price stabilization of onion and pulses under Price Stabilization Fund.
