Producer Companies Research Articles

Institutional Strengthening of Farmer Producer Organizations and Empowerment of Small Farmers in India: Evidence from a Case Study in Maharashtra

Small and marginal farmers contribute significantly to agricultural production and livelihoods all over the world. The small size of operational holdings, however, makes them highly susceptible to market risks leading to low levels of farm income. The farmer producer organizations (FPOs) are considered as effective mechanisms as they give voice to the small farmers, help overcome the challenges, by reducing the transaction costs and improving market access. However, in India, farmer collectives suffer from several institutional and structural impediments that affects their performance and thereby not resulting in empowerment and wellbeing of the farmers. In this regard, this article discusses the role of FPOs based on an empirical case study of Sahyadri Farmers Producer Company Ltd (SFPCL) from Maharashtra. The case study analyses the specificities of a private initiative such as Sahyadri, which focuses on making farming viable for farmers with small holdings in particular. The Sahyadri model contributes building the social capital of the farmers and improving the farm income and sustainable livelihoods. The article uses logistic regression to determine the factors influencing collective action and the Cobb–Douglas (CD) Production function to highlight the economic benefits realized by the farmers from being members of the Farmers Producer Company in case of Sahyadri in Maharashtra.

Trends in Export of Major Agricultural Commodities and Products from India

India's agricultural products export touched $ 50 billion for the financial year FY22, the highest level ever achieved. Basmati and Non-basmati rice are major exports and doubled during 2010-20 compared to 2000-2010. Export value of basmati and non-basmati rice were about Rs. 32,000 crores and Rs. 23,000 crores respectively during 2019-20. Exports of processed vegetables, fruits, nuts and fresh grapes are growing nearly 3 times during 2010-2020 (Rs.500 crores each) compared to 2000-2010 (around Rs. 3,000 crores each). Exports of cucumbers, gherkins, jaggery and confectionary items are growing at a faster rate in the recent decade (Rs.400 crores during 2005-06 to Rs. 1600 crores during 2019-20). Export basket of agricultural commodities is highly diversified (Herfindahl Index: 0.09 – 0.26) and non-conventional exports like processed vegetables, fruits and vegetables are increasing in faster rate. Hence, policy support to the non-conventional and high value exports as well as small and new exporters has to be continued. Aggregation of small exports and Farmers Producers Companies will directly benefit the farmers.

ATTITUDE OF FARMER PRODUCER ORGANIZATIONS MEMBERS TOWARDS THE ORGANIZATION

Farmers' organizations considered as the main pathway in improving the productivity, profitability and sustainability of small and marginal farmers in the nation. Therefore, it had become a paramount importance to study the attitude of farmers towards the Farmer producer Organization (FPO). The study was conducted in purposively selected Mysuru district of Karnataka state. In the district, Mysuru and K.R.Nagara taluks were selected. The two organizations Varuna Horticulture Farmer Producer Company Limited (VHFPC) and Arkeshwara Horticulture Farmer Producer Company Limited (AHFPC) were purposively selected. It was found that as high as 36.67 per cent of farmers possessed more favorable attitude towards FPOs, while 35.83 and 27.50 per cent of farmers possessed less favorable and favorable attitude towards FPOs, respectively. The VHFPC members had attitude mean score of 69.67 and the AHFPC members had the attitude mean score as 80.67, thus there is a significant difference at one per cent level with the t- value of 12.34 between VHFPC members and AHFPC members' attitude towards the farmers producer organization. Attitudes are acquired through experience and exert a directive influence on subsequent behavior and moreover, help individuals to interpret new information and to make decisions more efficiently than would otherwise be the case.

Comparative Performance of Cooperatives and Producer Companies in Member Producer’s Income Enhancement: A Case Study of the Milk Sector in Indian Punjab

Small producers’ participation in milk collectives such as dairy cooperatives and producer companies is seen as one of the several ways to institutionalize the dairy value chains and leverage their production and marketing strengths. In this context, the study has explored procurement practices of a dairy cooperative vis-à-vis producer company that have recently ventured into direct procurement, processing and retailing of the milk in Indian Punjab and understood their economic impact on the milk producers in Indian Punjab. The findings of the study suggest that both the milk collectives offer higher prices to the producers, resulting in higher profitability than their counterpart non-member milk producers. The findings of the study suggest that the milk collectives need to take additional responsibilities in terms of advancing credit, introducing new production technologies to increase milk productivity and encouraging participation of women milk producers to make such linkages inclusive, effective and sustainable.

Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Perceived Gains in Marketing of Farmer Producer Company Shareholders of Kerala, India

The study conducted among FPC shareholders of the state of Kerala in India, aimed at understanding their entrepreneurial orientation and perceived gains in marketing because of their membership. The relationship between selected variables and socio-demographic variables was also analyzed. For the purpose of the research 126 shareholders were selected from 30 organizations in different geographical regions of the state. The overall entrepreneurial orientation was found to be 74.60% and perceived gains in marketing were found to be 65.36%. Comparison shareholders from different geographical regions of the selected variables revealed that entrepreneurial orientation and perceived gains in marketing were low for shareholders in the Northern region of the state. A positive correlation of entrepreneurial orientation with age and annual income suggested that training must be focused on young shareholders belonging to low-income categories. Marketing of all marketable surplus was difficult due to the limited nature of crops considered by the Farmer Producer Companies. However, they appreciated the easiness in the marketing of their produce through FPCs. The education level of shareholders also had a positive impact on their perception of gains in marketing.

An Exploratory Study on Farmer’s Perception about dairy-based Farmer Producer Companies in India

Farmer Producer Company (FPCs) has emerged as a novel collective approach model and is considered to be a very effective tool for improving the overall socio-economic development of small and marginal farmers in India. To authenticate this prerogative, a survey was conducted among 360 dairy farmer members of 12 dairy-based farmer producer companies in three states of India. Most of the farmers expressed that the major objectives of FPCs are to maximize the benefits of members (75.50%), capacity building of its members (76.38%), better accessibility of agricultural services (74.44%) followed by reducing the transport cost of members (72.75%). Furthermore, the study has also investigated the socio-economic variables and their relationship with the individual perception of the farmer about FPCs. Findings aid us to formulate an appropriate strategy that will help to improve the farmers’ perception about the FPCs. Enhanced farmers’ awareness and knowledge about the beneficial effects of FPCs will encourage fellow farmers to form FPCs and reap its benefits on a larger scale

Development prospects for the Russian market of equipment and services to microgeneration under sanctions

Subject. Due to the pressure of increased sanctions on Russia’s economy, the development of renewable energy depends heavily on internal and external solvent demand for photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. A significant share of demand can be provided by the development of microgeneration based on renewable energy sources in the residential and commercial sector. Objectives. The aim is to perform a comprehensive analysis of real and potential barriers to the development of the microgenerating equipment market on the basis of renewable energy sources, both on the demand side and on the supply side. Methods. We conducted the supply-side research by studying the official websites of Russian companies offering solutions for autonomous and backup power supply. Then we interviewed representatives of companies, using the "mystery shopper" method. The demand-side research was undertaken through telephone interviews with professionals and stakeholders related to the microgeneration market development. Results. We found that nowadays the main barriers to market development are high capital costs and a long payback period for microgeneration projects, as well as insufficient level of development of services for design and installation of microgenerating equipment. Conclusions. The proposed range of equipment for microgeneration is quite wide and is unlikely to be reduced due to new sanctions imposed by Western countries. The equipment is made either in Russia or in China. However, the quality of information about products and services provided by producer companies is insufficient to successfully promote microgeneration.

Justifying International Growth in Spanish Family Wineries and Olive Oil Mills

This article examines the mediating effect of economic motivations on the relationship between family involvement and the growth-oriented made decisions. Besides, it analyses the moderating effect of internationalisation in this relationship as one strategic alternative to achieve that business growth. Family businesses possess features that set them apart from other types of businesses and influence on the establishment of objectives, in the selection of strategies and the decision-making process. Therefore, their desire to achieve long-term growth and/or survival could be motivated by reasons that differ from those of non-family businesses. Internationalisation is a possible strategy for achieving these long-term objectives. The developed empirical study is quantitative research based on the Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology. The study population comprises Small Spanish wine and olive oil producers companies. Study results show that economic motivations affect the relationship between family involvement in the business and achievement of business growth. Likewise, we find that, depending on their international propensity as moderating variable, the mediation effect of the underlying business economic motivations is total for non-international firms, whereas that effect is a partial one if the firms have become international. Additionally, there is a moderation of internationalisation, with a total mediation of economic motivations in Spanish wineries, not occurring in the case of olive oil mills, where there is a partial mediation. In the decision-making process of high family involvement business, the economic motivations should be taken into account to achieve business growth from the development of the internationalisation strategy. These economic motivations could be as relevant as other non-economic motivations to guarantee the continuity of the family nature of the business, especially when the firms belong to the Spanish wine sector.

Institutional contributions to agricultural producer price stability

This paper compares the main intersectoral and national agricultural institutions in Russia and Switzerland during the period 2004–2019 and uses data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an ordinary least squares model and fixed-effects models to assess the contributions of governments, sectoral producer organisations and companies to agricultural producer price stability. We find significant correlations of price stability with institutional settings that increase actor flexibility—namely a high share of imports in consumption and embedding the supply chain into a network. Our results show that agricultural producer price stability in Russia and Switzerland does not decrease during the period 2004–2019 and depends on both institutional conditions and economic factors.

"Study of Impact of the Members of Tamil Nadu Banana Producer Company (TNBPC) in Tiruchirappalli District- A Socio-economic Analysis"

Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are one of the potential solutions to the issues (lack of bargaining strength, extremely small landholdings, insufficient marketing skills and intermediary exploitation) faced by the Indian farmers. In light of the above fact, the present study was carried out in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu to find the socio economic impact of TNBPC on the members with the sample respondents of 132. The sample was selected through proportionate random sampling from five villages of Thottiyam block of the state. The findings revealed that about 62 per cent of the respondents had medium level of overall socio economic impact. Majority of the respondents felt improvement in their skill development aspects such as application of biological agents, value addition, ICT usage and sucker treatment. Regarding psychological aspect majority of the respondents felt improvement in self-confidence, motivational level and decision making ability. With regard to social aspect majority of the respondents felt increase in information seeking and sharing among the farmers and regarding economic aspect majority of the respondents felt decreased expenditure on input and increased income from the bunches and value added products.

BOOK REVIEW: Farmer Producer Companies: Past,Present and Future by Govil, Richa, Neti, Annapurna and Rao, Madhushree R.

BOOK REVIEW: Farmer Producer Companies: Past,Present and Future by Govil, Richa, Neti, Annapurna and Rao, Madhushree R.

Awareness of Organisational Responsibility and Perceived Satisfaction Level of Farmer Producer Company Shareholders of Kerala, India

The research study aimed to understand responsibility awareness and satisfaction levels of primary producers who were shareholders of different producer companies of the State of Kerala, India and analyse the relationship between socioeconomic variables with the same. Study sample constituted of 120 shareholders of different farmer producer companies in the state. The overall responsibility and satisfaction levels for the respondents were found to be 68.81% and 62.24% respectively. The study revealed that 51% of the producers had awareness about the organisational laws while only 46 % of them took effort to read the by-laws and written rules of the organisation. The lowest satisfaction levels were noted for “Input supply” and “Expert visits” components. Out of the six socioeconomic variables, three variables exhibited positive correlation with the awareness of organisational responsibility and two variables had positive correlation with satisfaction levels measured. From this study, it is clear that improving the input supply services and arranging extension services to shareholders can improve their satisfaction level with the FPCs and improve their attitude. Responsibility sensitisation may be carried out through trainings designed for this purpose to various stakeholders, with special focus on the less educated senior shareholders.

Economic analyses of milk production among members and non-members offarmer collectives in Saurashtra

Primary data collected for 2019-‘20 from 416 members and non-members of dairy farmer collectives (where farmers come together to market their milk collectively – this study considers a co-operative union and a milk producer company – both prominent forms of farmer collectives) in Saurashtra region of Gujarat are used to work-out the cost and returns in milk production from local cow and buffalo, and across dairy farmer categories. The analyses reveal that farmer collective organizations like co-operatives and producer companies are profitable in case of both local cow and buffalo milk production, and also for the small (1-3) and medium (3-6) herd-size category (in Standard Animal Units or SAU) of farmers. Both the overall average feed cost and Total Variable cost (TVC) per animal per day incurred by members is 12 per cent and 11 per cent less than that of non-members, respectively. Members of the co-operative receive annual bonus and members of the producer company receive annual dividends and cash incentives; with this additional benefit received by the members, their total return per litre is 25 per cent more than that of non-members. The overall average annual net returns from dairy per household for members are higher at Rs. 11,641/- compared to the returns of non-members at Rs. 3955/-. Expanding the reach of farmer collective organizations would benefit more dairy farmers by making dairy a more profitable enterprise for them.

Dairy infrastructure development index: measuring regional inequalities acrossdistricts of Gujarat

Infrastructure development is critical to sustain and attain optimum output from the rapidly growing Indian dairy sector. The existing studies indicate the need to improve the dairy infrastructure; however, the need varies across regions. This study analyses the disparity in the dairy infrastructure development of one of the highly dairy progressive State – Gujarat - using a Principal Component Approach (PCA). The results indicate that there exists nearly a 54% disparity in the dairy infrastructure facility among the districts of Gujarat. The index value varies from 0.04 for Dang to 0.66 for Banaskantha districts of Gujarat. The findings pointed towards a higher association of existence of farmer collectives and infrastructure development in the state. Development indicators to be prioritized for improving the level of dairy infrastructure in the low performing districts are also highlighted. The study suggests that the existing inequalities can be reduced by supporting and strengthening the already existing institutions like milk cooperatives and farmer producer companies or by incentivizing farmer groups to create one.

Farmer’s Producer Organisation (FPO) – Collective Steps towards Lucrative Agriculture

Farmer producer organizations are realized as a beneficial structural mechanism for assembling farmers’ collective assist motion geared toward enhancing their very own monetary and social state of affairs and that in their communities. Such organizations have been given the impression to have the capacity to create assets from their associates. They could work at incomparable ranges from the nearby to the worldwide. Many government organizations and NGOs have been seeking to make farmers into specific groups and combine them into the improvement procedure through actively involving them in switch of generation, manufacturing and marketing, making plans, enforcing and tracking of various tasks on rural improvement, agriculture and allied quarter improvement, herbal resource management etc. For building a sustainable FPO, congenial ecosystem is desirable, besides policy reforms predominantly in the system of agricultural marketing. Some of the good ecosystems include the contract farming, production, agri-logistics, policy environment, market and price risk mitigation, licensing, infrastructure arrangements, compliances, etc. FPOs have become one of the effective pathway to address constraints of agriculture sector. There is a necessity for identifying the suitable support system with proper technical guidance with workable and scalable business models. Mainly identified clusters to be scaled up in producer company requirements to be economically reinforced right from the period of community mobilization and inception.

A green supplier selection framework in polyethylene industry

Purpose To outsource part of their work, organizations are looking for suppliers who also have green criteria with other criteria. Selecting suppliers begins with the definition of potential suppliers and then selects the best among them. This study aims to present a two-part approach for selecting suppliers consisting of suppliers’ prioritization. Design/methodology/approach In the first part, the criteria that influence on selecting the suppliers have been identified and extracted using the literature review and experts’ opinion which consists of 19 criteria. Then, these criteria were evaluated by the content validity ratio index and using experts’ opinions, and finally, 16 criteria were selected for selecting green suppliers in a polyethylene’s products producer company in Iran. In the next step, suppliers are selected in a green supply chain using multi-criteria decision-making methods such as Dempster–Shafer theory and grey relationship analysis, which is a strategic decision. Findings This study attempts to improve the level of reliance on the whole uncertain degree by combining Dempster–Shafer theory and grey relational analysis (GRA), which makes the grey analysis method more robust and its results more reliable. The findings show that Supplier 4 is ranked as first within six suppliers. Originality/value Using GRA and Dempster–Shafer theory for green supplier selection problem in polyethylene industry is the novelty of this work.

Study of steel ball recharge and consumption in a wet cement industrial mill via a population balance model

A population balance model is applied to a steel ball mill. Experimental data were obtained for two types of balls with different chemical compositions using a marked ball test in an industrial mill of a recognized cement producer company. The balls were marked since their manufacture by an international ball supplier who guided the entire experimental process. The mill was monitored for about eight months in 12 time cycles. It is found that the law of wear of balls was of zeroth order. The wear law is introduced to the model to predict and analyze the steel consumption due to the wear of the balls, the mass density function, the distribution function of balls, and the mill ball charge at steady state. Experimental data and theoretical predictions match in excellent agreement.

Echelon Base Stock Policy for Symbiotic and Reverse Logistic Flows

The main objective of this paper is to determine the base stock levels within the framework of an industrial symbiosis. At the operational level, we define the replenishment policies for finished and used products. The system is composed by two main warehouses and three enterprises located in the same industrial region, an eco-industrial park. For the first enterprise, we have two plants (or simply two manufacturing lines): the first plant manufactures finished products and the second one recovers used (wasted) finished products after collection and restores them. For the other enterprises, one enterprise consumes only finished products made by the first enterprise and the second one consumes by-products which could be used finished products or part of these used finished products coming from the second enterprise. This means that one enterprise consumes only finished products and generates wasted finished products and the second one could use these wasted finished products as inputs for its production. To simplify the study, we present only one kind of finished product but a generalization to several products and several customer and producer companies can simply be defined. The demands are uncertain such as the number of collected used finished products. The objective is then to define the base stock levels that minimize the long-run average expected total function, which is the sum of all economic, environmental and social costs. Numerical results are proposed to highlight our results.

Farm Producers Organizations a collectiveness Approach, Study & Review of Scheme

Small and marginal farmers always face problem in production and income in absence of economy of scale. Farmers and governments always tried to get the advantage of collectiveness to get the both ended advantage of economy of scale. Cooperative societies of farmers were one of the mitigation techniques. SHG, JLG, farmers club etc are the efforts to achieve the economy of scale in production and marketing but distress of the farmers proved all efforts incomplete. In the year 2002 a special structure comprising the characteristics of cooperatives society and company was designed for original farm producers in the form and style of FPOs (farm producer organizations) managed and run by Cluster based Business organization (CBBO).The ownership of the PO (Producer organization) is with its members it is an organization of the producers for the producers. FPO also known as farmers company (FPC) is an legal entity by primary producers. An FPO can be a producer company, a cooperative society or any other form. The small farmers Agri-business consortium (SFAC) developed by Government of India to increase the Income of small and marginal farmers. Central Sector Scheme of “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)” is the attempt to accelerate the formation of FPO, Govt. assistance at all level of formation and operation of FPO, hand holding support for five year budget allocation GOI budget 2020-21. The study will evaluate and asses the scheme and role to increase the farm producers’ income by way of FPO on account of budget allocation and implementation of central scheme.

Implementing Indian Innovations through Trained Extension Functionaries for Improving the Agriculture in Africa and Asia

Agriculture in India has metamorphosed a lot during the last seven decades from being a subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. The innovations in Indian agriculture have paved the way for seeing agriculture as an agri-business enterprise. The creation of diverse agribusiness opportunities amidst the existing constraints and challenges has reoriented the farming in India. Having seen the positive changes in agriculture due to the agribusiness orientation in India, other countries in Asia and Africa are keen to adopt this approach in their countries. The selected officials representing Government, civil society and private firms from Africa and Asia were trained under Feed the Future India Triangular Training during 2019 on Agribusiness innovations in India and the opportunities for their countries. Following the training, the research study conducted showed that, Indian agribusiness innovations in supply chain management, good agriculture practices and promoting Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) are perceived as best interventions by the trainees to address the problems of lack of improved technologies for small farmers, unorganized market, lack of institutional resources and lack of agri mechanization in their countries.