Farm Collection Research Articles

Enabling and inhibiting factors of sustainability of Farmer's Producers Organisations in India

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) are farmers' collectives or farmer-led business entities seeking to empower small and marginal farmers in India. Some farmer's collectives successfully achieve their goals and some often fail to meet the increasing demands in the agribusiness ecosystem. However, the academic literature glorifies the success studies of farmers' collectives. There are mentions of sustainability issues of farmers' collectives. However, not enough studies point to the factors that influence the organisational sustainability of farmers' collectives. Therefore, in this paper, the researchers aim to explore both the enabling and inhibiting factors of sustainability of farmer's collectives. A thematic synthesis process was applied to compile information from published literature. The study compiles enabling and inhibiting sustainability factors from 22 studies of FPOs. A qualitative approach using focused group discussion with farmers in FPO was completed to validate the findings from secondary data sources and collect empirical evidence directly from the farmers. The methodology guarantees inclusivity by collecting the voices of farmers through focused group discussion. Key enabling and inhibiting factors of sustainability of FPOs were categorized into economic, social, and environmental dimensions of organisational sustainability. In the economic dimension, improved agricultural income of farmers was reported as an enabling factor for sustainability, while some FPOs report capital shortage as a main hindrance for organisational sustainability in FPOs. The social dimension claims the collective bargaining power of members and effective capacity-building and collaboration opportunities as enabling factors. However, farmers highlight without good leadership strategies, and upskilling of farmers attaining sustainability is a mirage. Effective organisational activities like branding, marketing of products, access and awareness about capacity building were derived as the enabling factors in the environmental dimension of organisational sustainability, whereas, poor infrastructure lack of robust organisational structure, and climate change were termed as inhibiting factors. Understanding these sustainability factors can help policymakers to develop farmer-friendly collectives which enhance agriculture and food systems that will help achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1—Zero Poverty and SDG 2—End hunger.

Role of climate-smart agriculture in fighting against climate change in competitive supply chains

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a United Nations-recommended approach to help farmer collectives (FCs) build crop resilience against climate-related yield uncertainty. In this study, we develop game-theoretical models to analyse the impact of CSA on the competitive agricultural marketplace. FCs can choose either a direct-to-consumer mode (i.e., selling to consumers directly without using CSA) or a CSA-enabled mode (i.e., selling to consumers through the e-platform with the use of CSA). We find that CSA adoption is preferable for FCs when the climate-related yield uncertainty is sufficiently high but unprofitable for FCs when the climate-related yield uncertainty is sufficiently low. Moreover, we identify how climate-related yield uncertainty and segmented agri-market selection (e.g., staple or side crop) affect yield competition. When FCs plant a crop with a low substitution rate (e.g., a staple crop), yield competition will be intensified if at least one FC does not adopt the CSA-enabled mode, whereas when FCs plant a crop with a high substitution rate (e.g., a side crop), yield competition will be intensified if all FCs adopt the CSA-enabled mode. We also find that the industrywide welfare improvement, total yield improvement, and FCs’ profit can benefit from inconsistent CSA modes, rather than consistent ones in supply chains. Our results provide guidelines to both FCs and policymakers on CSA adoption for alleviating the crop supply shortage and fighting against climate change.

Actually existing tomatoes

In March 2012, a small farm in Latvia with a collection of over 200 tomato varieties was charged with the illegal sale of seeds not included in the European Union's Common Catalogue. The farm's collection includes traditional Latvian varieties that have never been officially registered, Western varieties imported illegally during the Soviet years, and Russian varieties that came into use during the Soviet years and are now defended by Latvian gardeners as "traditionally grown" and representing the taste of their childhoods. The debate highlighted the continuing struggle over Latvia's geopolitical positioning between Russia and the European Union and control over seeds as a tactic of empire. I explore the cultural memories embedded in the contested tomato seeds and how they contribute to an intertwined imaginary of the Latvian landscape idyll with a Soviet sociality. I argue that the innovative resolution to this conflict represents a process of transculturation in a contact zone between empires (Pratt 1992).