Farmer Producer Organisations in North India: Potentials and Challenges

Abstract

This article seeks to analyse the current business model of FPOs to understand socio-economic consequences for individual members. The study selected 10 farmer producer organisations from Uttar Pradesh, India considering diversity along with geographical location, the field of operation and business model. In total, 10% of the villages covered by each chosen FPO and 5 members from each selected village were randomly selected for data collection. Two separate schedules for FPOs and members were administered for data collection. The study found that FPO members, particularly small and marginal farmers, experienced a positive socio-economic impact on their lives due to exposure to new techniques and enhanced bargaining power due to collectivisation. However, lack of capital due to constraints in accessing finance from banks was found to be a major challenge. The article concludes by underlining what needs to be done to make FPOs sustainable.

Empowering Small and Marginal Farmers: Unveiling the Potential and Addressing Obstacles of Farmer Producer Organizations in India

“…During the growth phase of FPOs, many studies have found that working capital is a big challenge for these FPOs [63] . One of the most common problems stated in many studies is the lack of funds and support for the FPOs [64,65] . This phenomenon can also be confirmed in the study conducted by Neti et al [10] that the median paid-up capital per producer company in India is only Rs.…”

(Farmer) Producer Companies in India as new generation cooperatives: Case studies of performance and impact from West Bengal, India

“…The above review shows that these are mostly individual PC case studies of impact or those with only member farmer based assessment. There are others which only assess financial performance of PCs (Singh & Singh, 2014; Kakati & Roy, 2021; Mourya & Mehta, 2021; Trivedi et al., 2022) or report just PC Board members’ and CEOs’ perceptions based analysis of member impact or benefits (Deka et al., 2020; Mourya & Mehta, 2021), or those which only examine a single or a few PCs for impact on member farmers as compared with that on the non‐member farmers (Lalitha et al., 2022; Mukherjee et al., 2022). Some others attribute all gains from the sale of agricultural commodities by the member farmer households to the PCs (Trivedi et al., 2022).…”

“…There are others which only assess financial performance of PCs (Singh & Singh, 2014; Kakati & Roy, 2021; Mourya & Mehta, 2021; Trivedi et al., 2022) or report just PC Board members’ and CEOs’ perceptions based analysis of member impact or benefits (Deka et al., 2020; Mourya & Mehta, 2021), or those which only examine a single or a few PCs for impact on member farmers as compared with that on the non‐member farmers (Lalitha et al., 2022; Mukherjee et al., 2022). Some others attribute all gains from the sale of agricultural commodities by the member farmer households to the PCs (Trivedi et al., 2022). Some others claim to have surveyed both the members and the non‐members but report only the member farmer data based impact on income or cropping pattern where the members’ net annual income went up by 16% and the area under high value crops such as pulses or vegetables expanded and those of food crops such as paddy or wheat declined after the membership of the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in Punjab (Renuka & Singh, 2021).…”

The Challenges and Issues of Farmer Producer Organizations in India

“…FPOs sometimes face competition among themselves and with other agricultural marketing channels, and coordination issues can arise, leading to inefficiencies in the sector. FPOs often focus on a single crop or a few crops [7][8][9][10]. This can lead to issues when dealing with crop failures or market fluctuations.…”