About Vfpck
Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK) is a company registered under section 25 of Indian Companies Act 1956 and has been established to bring about overall development of fruit and vegetable sector in Kerala. Established in 2001 as the successor organization of Kerala Horticulture Development Programme (KHDP), VFPCK is managed by a result oriented multidisciplinary team of professionals. Needless to say, KHDP, funded by European Union, was one of the most successful agricultural development projects ever undertaken in the country. KHDP could effectively introduce several agricultural developmental policies and redress long-standing problems that plagued the agricultural sector. The Self Help Groups (SHGs) conceptualised by the Council form the base units for all the interventions like Extension, Rural Credit, Group Marketing, Participatory Technology Development (PTD), Value Additions and Exports.
VFPCK is a company with majority stake of farmers and the Government and financial institutions as the other major shareholders. Self Help Groups of farmers constitutes 50% of shares, Government of Kerala has 30% and other related institutions hold 20% of VFPCK’s shares.
The Director Board with 11 members is chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Government of Kerala and acts as the governing body of the Council. The board members include senior Government officials like Agricultural Production Commissioner, Director of Agriculture , Secretary (Finance), Chief Executive Officer of VFPCK, four persons including a woman to be elected from the SHGs and one representative from national agency in horticulture and one representative of participating banks on rotation .