Bibliometric Review of FPCs in Agricultural Value Chain Optimization

Majority of the Indian farmers growing diverse local crops and traditional cultivars are small small-landholding farmer. Lower yields and challenges to find a value chain are accentuated by the effects of climate change. Since 2003, a new provision has been made available to farmers to come together and form ‘Farmer Producer Organization’ and ‘Farmer Producer Company’, in which farmers themselves are shareholders and external entities aren’t allowed to become investors. Currently, there are 7,000 such registered groups in India, and it’s being hailed as a promising step towards farmer liberation. Many farmer collectives, especially Farmer Producer Companies, are eagerly adopting emerging technologies for their operations, scaling, value-chain integration, and marketing purposes. This paper will seek to explore a case study of India’s largest farmer collective of fruits and vegetables regarding their usage of Blockchain technology in bringing transparency and efficiency across their integrated value chain.

Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) have become an important model for improving the socio-economic status and economic performance of small and marginal farmers in India, particularly in southern districts like Virudhunagar and Theni in Tamil Nadu. The study explores the role of FPCs in empowering farmers by enhancing market access, improving bargaining power, and reducing input costs. The research involved seven FPCs and a sample of 140 members, focusing on demographic factors, income levels, farm size, and governance structures. The analysis revealed that FPCs predominantly consist of female members, with an average age of 44. Most members saw increased incomes after joining FPCs. Additionally, the SWOT analysis identified strengths like better market access and weaknesses such as limited processing facilities, posing operational challenges. FPCs showed promise in transforming agriculture, notably through improvements in millet cultivation. For instance, FPC interventions led to a 20 per cent increase in millet yields. The findings offer valuable insights into potential strategies for strengthening FPCs in Tamil Nadu, such as enhancing cooperative marketing initiatives and investing in infrastructure for value addition to agricultural products.

This article attempts to bridge this gap by exploring the role of farmer-producer companies (FPCs) in fostering agripreneurship in Haryana, India. Through a mixed-methods approach, data on financial performance, market access and policies related to FPCs are used to conduct this analysis. Electronic national agriculture market (eNAM), a digital platform, improves income stabilisation directly by 18%, and the FPC members show income stability up by a tolerance of 25%–35%. Despite these advantages, regulatory hurdles, cost barriers and technology naivete are persistent problems. Targeted policy action is needed to support them, including regulatory streamlining, access to financial support systems and programmes that build the capacities of FPCs for their long-term sustainability.

The study examines the role of Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) in improving the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers in Bihar, a state in India, with a focus on the interaction between physical and social capital. It aims to explore how FPCs contribute to enhancing agricultural productivity, improving market access, and promoting collective action among farmers, emphasizing the cooperation between infrastructure (physical capital) and networks of trust (social capital) by taking into account the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF). For primary data, structured questionnaires were sent to 385 respondents, with 300 responding in total; of these, 250 respondents completed the questionnaire accurately. Secondary data is obtained from relevant literature, reports, and studies on FPCs. Regression and variance analyses were used to assess the impact. The study found a significant positive correlation between FPC membership and improvements in key areas such as irrigation systems, storage facilities, and social networks. These enhancements led to increased agricultural resilience, greater market competitiveness, and improved income levels for FPC members. The research is limited to specific districts in Bihar, which may affect the generalizability of the findings to other regions. Additionally, the study focuses on physical and social capital, leaving other factors, such as financial capital, unexamined. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, highlighting the need for increased support and development of FPCs. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of how FPCs enhance physical and social capital, contributing to the broader discourse on collective institutions like FPCs in transforming agricultural livelihoods in India.

Abstract: This review evaluates the economic impact of Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) under the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) on per capita economic value in Solapur district's Gram Panchayats, a drought-prone region in Maharashtra, India. It explores the intersection of sustainable groundwater management and economic empowerment through collective farming models, addressing challenges in water-scarce agricultural systems. A systematic literature synthesis was conducted, integrating peer-reviewed articles, government reports, and case studies from 2015–2025, alongside analysis of Solapur's agricultural and economic trends. Findings indicate that FPCs, supported by ABY's water budgeting and monitoring tools (e.g., piezometers, water flow meters), enhance per capita income by 10–15% through improved agricultural productivity, with jowar yields increasing from 1.2 to 1.5 tons/ha, and cost savings of ₹5,000–7,000 per hectare via collective procurement. Water-use efficiency improved by 20%, driven by community-led water management, while market access through value-added products like organic jowar flour boosted incomes. ABY's community-driven approach fosters groundwater conservation and inclusive FPC governance, particularly for women. The study highlights policy implications for scaling FPCs, including expanded training, streamlined funding, and integration with schemes like MGNREGA. These findings contribute to sustainable agriculture and rural economic development, offering scalable solutions for drought-prone regions. Future research should explore longitudinal impacts and comparative analyses across Maharashtra's water-stressed districts.

This study investigates rural market access and value chain integration in Nigeria’s diverse agroecological zones—Northern Sahel, Central Savannah, and Southern Rainforest—to enhance sustainable agricultural development. Employing mixed methods, quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews were conducted with smallholder farmers and key stakeholders. The findings reveal variations in market access challenges, value chain engagement, and the impact of strategies across zones. Challenges encompass transportation costs, distance to markets, lack of market information, and post-harvest losses. Farmer cooperatives emerged as a pivotal strategy, enhancing collective bargaining power. For zone-specific interventions, infrastructure development, market information dissemination, value addition, and financial inclusion programs are recommended. This research contributes to localized approaches for addressing challenges and optimizing opportunities in enhancing rural market access and value chain integration, fostering resilient and inclusive agricultural growth.

Transaction costs are incurred while conducting a transaction through an exchange in the open market. New institutional economics focuses on transaction costs and the institutions involved in their reduction. This study compares the transaction costs incurred by Farmer Producer Company (FPC) members and non-members in Kerala and identifies the factors affecting these transaction costs. The study revealed no significant difference in the transaction costs incurred by FPC members and non-members. This was mainly due to the significant and higher opportunity cost of time spent on information and decision-making by FPC members compared to non-members, which surpassed the lower costs incurred for selling their farm produce by FPC members compared to non-members. Based on this study, we recommend that FPCs concentrate more on the bottom-up collectivization of individual farmers to form large business organizations that facilitate market access for small and marginal farmers and reduce transaction costs.

Food system resilience: Unraveling power relations and the Matthew effect in farmers networks

Purpose Small farmers in India are collectivized and legalized as Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) to progress in agri-food value chains as small agribusiness enterprises. FPCs are dependent on timely information for their sustainability and profitability. Mobile apps are a cost-effective form of information and communication technology. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the major determinants of mobile apps adoption by FPCs. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative and qualitative data are collected by administering a semi-structured questionnaire and conducting in-depth interviews with board members of 115 FPCs, with a total membership of 30,405 farmers operating in 14 districts of the state of Kerala, India. The logit model is used for quantitative analysis, while dialog mapping is used for qualitative analysis, based on an integrated technology acceptance model and technology organization environment framework. Findings Logistic regression results evidence that amongst FPC characteristics, while company size and age are significantly impacting apps adoption, there is no significant association between board size, education level, multiple commodities business or export intention of companies on apps adoption. Digital literacy and technical hands-on training for FPC board members are quintessential to facilitate mobile apps adoption. Practical implications The findings are pertinent to policymakers to earmark funds for technical handholding and digital upskilling of FPCs. The need for developing comprehensive, location-centric, farmer-friendly apps by agritech companies is evidenced. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a pioneering work in the domain of mobile apps adoption from a farmers’ agribusiness enterprise perspective in an emerging market economy using a mixed-methods approach.

"Farmer Producer Companies are emerging as an innovative model to transform agriculture into a profitable business venture by leveraging the collectives of small and marginal farmers through economies of scale with better bargaining power, better value addition facilities, better access to farming technologies, better input supply, and better market accessibility. Financial performance indicates the financial health and resource utilization efficiency of a business organization or a company over a certain period. In the present study, a comparative analysis of balance sheets and income statements was made for five different Farmer Producer Companies of Eastern Uttar Pradesh to identify the pattern of change in various financial components from 2019-20 to 2020-21. Based on the analysis, the important findings were that reserve and surpluses were significantly increased for most of the FPCs for future business expansion, three FPCs reported increased total liabilities, and all of the FPCs managed to grow their total assets compared to the previous year. The revenue growth rate for three FPCs was below par. The performance of the FPCs in respective to net profit after tax was asymmetric. Out of five, only four FPCs were able to meet all the operational expenses from the revenue generated out of business activities and hence, considered profit-making. Moreover, the overall financial performance of the FPCs was disrupted due to the wrath of the Covid-19 pandemic."

The coconut industry in Western Tamil Nadu, India, epitomizes the intricate interplay of actors and activities within the agricultural value chain. Despite India's prominent stature as the leading coconut producer globally, challenges persist, including price disparities and limited value addition. This study investigates the coconut value chain in Western Tamil Nadu, mapping its actors and activities to elucidate opportunities for enhancing efficiency and sustainability. Employing a multi-stage sampling technique, data were collected from 300 coconut farmers and various stakeholders. Six value chains were identified, encompassing domestic, processing, and export markets. Primary actors, including farmers, harvest contractors, commission agents, wholesalers, retailers, processors, farmer producer companies (FPCs), and exporters, were analyzed in terms of their roles and activities. Results highlight the significance of value chain mapping in understanding market dynamics and optimizing resource allocation. Channel III, facilitated by FPCs, emerged as a promising avenue for reducing costs and enhancing market efficiency. This study emphasizes the importance of informed decision-making and strategic interventions for fostering a sustainable and vibrant coconut industry in Western Tamil Nadu and beyond.

Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) are driving agricultural frontier expansions in India. Their main objectives are to mobilize small-scale farmers to collectivize and organize in order to gain collective bargaining power, in the process empowering farmers and eliminating middlemen. However, they have not established any demonstrable success in achieving these goals. This chapter seeks firstly, to draw transnational connections between agro-ecological transformations in India and larger market/capital expansions through FPCs, contextualized amidst national development goals for farmer empowerment, changing labor patterns, and ecological degradation. In doing so, it will, secondly, explore the gendered dimension of FPCs in India by analyzing how the process of establishing women-only FPCs by using mandatory inclusion as a participation tool can serve to disempower and further burden women. While mandatory involvement of women farmers on their Board of Directors as an empowerment strategy can prove crucial to enhancing women’s decision-making roles, this chapter asks whether such an inclusionary approach remains meaningful to achieve FPC success in a context where external support for women’s empowerment is not provided.

Over the past few decades, producer organizations (POs) have garnered significant attention and policy support due to their potential for wealth creation and sustainable rural livelihoods. Research in this area typically focuses on the rural context, highlighting the services POs offer, their roles in market linkage activities, and their contribution to financial inclusion and rural growth. However, there is currently no comprehensive review of the literature that explores the organizational attributes of various collective forms and their role in sustainable development goals. We, therefore, conduct a meta-analysis of the literature based on bibliometrics to understand current research trends and identify existing gaps. We used Scopus as the bibliometric data source and focused on PO-related developments during 1998–2023 for our analysis. A total of 74 papers were found eligible for this meta-review. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were applied to extract papers based on inclusion criteria. Bibliometric analysis was performed using the VOSviewer tool. We discussed the findings based on the clusters generated in the co-citation study. Indeed, this research summarizes major structural reforms, market linkages by the POs, and the impact of membership on rural livelihood. A range of organizational attributes, including ownership, control, benefit, profit share, governance, autonomy, marketing, and liability factors of cooperatives and producer companies, have been analyzed and compared. We found that producer companies carry both the goodness of co-operative structure, i.e. credit access, training, bargaining ability, and other technical facilities and the vibrancy and efficacy of private companies. The role of POs in contract farming and value chain integration is extensively discussed in the selected literature. Using Cohen’s d, we further demonstrate that membership in a PO significantly enhances farmers’ bargaining power, market access, and credit acquisition compared to non-members. Based on our analysis, we conclude that POs have the potential to play a pivotal role in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030, which are critical for the development of emerging economies. However, this is the first attempt to investigate POs in such a holistic way using bibliometrics, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. These findings could be meaningful in shaping regional policy and expediting future investments to establish robust business ventures.

PurposeThe aim of this article was to present a retrospective assessment of the intellectual structure of private agricultural and food standards research in global trade. This study was motivated by the increasing role of standards and certifications in governing global agricultural and food trade.Design/methodology/approachThe current investigation was carried out with bibliometric methods using VOSviewer software. Techniques such as citation, co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, keyword evolution and co-authorship analyses were performed to tackle the research questions. Articles were extracted from Scopus database for the period 1998–2022 (30th August 2022) with selected keywords (“Private food standard*” OR “food standard*” OR “agri-food standard*” AND “agri*” OR “agro*” OR “farm*” OR “food*” AND “international trade” OR “global trade” OR “international business”) along certain filters (subject – Economics and Business management: language – English: Document – article and review articles and source – journals).FindingsThe results show that the intellectual structure of private agricultural and food standards research in global trade has evolved around five clusters, namely: (1) the political economy of food standards, (2) food standards and their challenges in global trade, (3) food standards and integration into value chains, (4) food standards and market access and (5) food standards and exports from developing countries. However, the authors found the research gaps in each of the thematic clusters.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of this study is that the authors focused their attention on certain aspects of bibliometric review, such as the intellectual structure of the field, the citation analysis and the collaboration network. Future research could attempt to explore new field development through bibliographic coupling and deepening of conceptual structure using content analysis by incorporating the research methods used in the respective studies.Practical implicationsThe emerging research areas in private agricultural and food standards in global trade are related to topics on food quality, sustainable development, genetically modified organisms, World Trade Organization, tariff structure, trade agreements, food industry and European Union. However, there is less research and little collaboration between Africa and developed countries. For example, Africa's total publications were (15), while the US had (46), China (15), Belgium (23), Germany (27), Italy (32) and the UK (24).Originality/valueThere are limited studies that have conducted a retrospective evaluation of the intellectual structure of private agricultural and food standards research in the global trade using bibliometric analysis. The present investigation is novel in identifying the thematic research clusters, emerging issues and future research directions. This is more important to developing countries as their agricultural produce face challenges to access markets of the developed world.

PurposeAlthough past studies have reviewed the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in corporate finance, growing realization on the influence of contextual variables has necessitated re-examination in light of unique situational settings. Given that India presents a distinctive context, this study aims to map, synthesize and evaluate the Indian literature on corporate ESG and its role in financial management.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Using systematic procedures, 101 documents are selected from the Scopus database, and a bibliometric analysis, including performance analyses of prominent journals, publication trends and authors, is conducted along with keyword co-occurrence and bibliometric coupling analysis using the VOSviewer software. Additionally, an in-depth systematic literature review using content analysis is undertaken to consolidate insights from the selected corpus based on the theory–context–methodology framework.FindingsPublication trend analyses indicate a growing interest in the topic, while the bibliometric analysis leads to three thematic areas: the ESG–financial performance link, CSR reporting and disclosure and determinants of ESG; representing the foci of the extant literature. The content analysis reveals various theoretical and methodological gaps, which present opportunities as avenues for future research – while also underscoring the need for more granular and diversified research in the Indian context.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to use both a systematic content analytical review and bibliometric analysis techniques to examine the impact of ESG on corporate finance in India. This study addresses the need for context-based ESG research and presents a wide perspective on the ESG–corporate finance nexus while also undertaking a detailed analysis of the extant literature. This work is the first of its kind in the known field, and is expected to provide significant informative value to a variety of stakeholders and decision-makers.