Promoting farmer producer organizations to mitigate risk and improve market access Lessons and Challenges

摘要

What is the need to support farmer producer organizations (FPOs)Globalization is changing the way agriculture marketing is organized, even within relatively sheltered produce markets such as India. National, regional and local marketing systems are increasingly adopting global best practices in procurement, storage,in turn will create pressure for higher food quality standards and usher in new procurement systems. Efforts to loosen the tight hold of the APMC inspired mandi system over agriculture marketing will intensify in the near future, leading to the entry ofnew players bringing cutting edge technology and unfamiliar processes. Indian companies are also increasingly likely to attempt to capture larger market sharesto manage the high risk of farming, evidenced by growing weather uncertainties, unreliable input supplies, stressed infrastructure in the power and irrigation sectors and iniquitous marketing arrangements. These trends will further weaken the bargainingpower of the vast majority of these producers and it is unlikely, given present conditions, that they will benefit from opportunities at the nationaltransport, packing and processing of food products. Food supermarkets are a reality and even if their present market share is tiny, they are likely to become major players in the coming decades to cater to the growing demand for quality farm produce delivered in modern formats. Thisof the expanding international trade in primary commodities and processed foods and hence seek quality produce in large volumes from domestic producers.