Producer Organizations Research Articles

Boosting Cooperative Success: Evaluating the Performance of Farmer Producer Organizations in Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu, India

Boosting Cooperative Success: Evaluating the Performance of Farmer Producer Organizations in Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu, India

Value Chain Dynamics in Farmer Producer Organizations: A Review

Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs) plays a crucial role in organizing farmers to improve farming efficiency and market access. FPOs allow collective marketing and negotiating by uniting the produce of smallholder farmers. The value chain includes all processes that take a farm product from production to final consumption, such as manufacturing, processing, distribution, and selling. This study sought to investigate value chain dynamics, including FPOs, and identify success factors and obstacles. It applied a systematic methodology to examine market linkages and constraints faced by FPOs. The literature reviews available research highlights gaps and makes recommendations for future studies and policies. The report emphasizes FPOs' importance in enhancing value chains and assisting smallholder farmers, which is critical for agriculture sector resilience and growth.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CLAIMS IN DRUG PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE AVAILABLE TO MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS

Context: Objective: To ascertain whether the pharmaceutical companies are following the World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria for Ethical Medicinal Drug Promotion 2015 and Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices, 2019 and to what extent. Also, to evaluate the therapeutic claims made by them in their drug promotional literature (DPL) and to classify them. Methods: DPL brochures were collected from different pharmaceutical companies from various medical practitioners and assessed for ethical promotion based on guidelines. Therapeutic claims made by them were classified as authentic, exaggerated, controversial, false, misinterpreted, and ambiguous. Results: A total of 100 DPLs were collected and critically analyzed for authenticity of the content. It was observed that the majority of the DPLs did not comply with the criteria mentioned in the WHO Criteria of Ethical Promotion 2015 and the OPPI Code of Pharmaceutical Practices 2019. International non-proprietary names and the brand name were mentioned by 100% of DPLs. The amount of active ingredients and approved therapeutic indications were mentioned by (99%) and (96%) respectively. The dosage form or regimen was mentioned by 87% of DPLs. Criteria like side effects, precautions/contraindications, and major interactions were mentioned in 28%, 29%, and 14% respectively. Based on the therapeutic claims 23% of the DPLs were found to be authentic and the remaining 77% were extravagant. Conclusions: This study enabled us to find out to what extent the pharmaceutical industries follow the standard criteria for DPL and evaluate the claims made by them. The majority of the DPLs did not follow ethical guidelines and were inadequate in terms of their adequacy, quality, and reliability.

Ripe for contracts? Estimating the impact of an avocado producer organization contract farming intervention

AbstractWe evaluate the impact of a producer organization avocado contract farming intervention in Kenya that included (1) an agreement to sell to an avocado exporting company, (2) access to training, and (3) support to gain group‐level Global Good Agricultural Practices (GLOBALG.A.P.) certification as main activities. Using a (nonexperimental) doubly robust difference‐in‐differences design with farm‐level panel data from 2015 and 2017, we show that farmers began selling to the contracted company, were recently trained and received the GLOBALG.A.P. certification. However, the intervention's uptake was less than perfect, especially concerning the procurement aspect of the contract, suggesting widespread side selling. In terms of outcomes, contract farming nevertheless significantly improved sales prices and reported quality, increased direct sales to companies, and led to more planted trees, but also increased total production costs. The effects are driven by the Hass avocado variety, which is in higher demand in export markets and the contracted avocado variety. No significant income and other welfare effects were found.

A study of perception of members about Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs) in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal

A study of perception of members about Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs) in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal

Pendampingan dan Fasilitasi Pendaftaran Merek UMKM Bantarsari Berbasis Kolaborasi Peran Pemerintah Desa dan Kampus

The partners in this program include the Head of Bantarsari Village and his staff, representatives of associations, and Bantarsari Small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The partners face several issues: the absence of producer organizations, underutilization of information technology, unregistered product trademarks, limited online marketing reach, and low marketing management competence. The program aims to provide education and training on trademark legality and to assist and facilitate the creation and registration of trademarks. Activities are conducted using persuasive and participatory methods through lectures, discussions, training, mentoring, and trademark registration facilitation. Based on data analysis before and after the program implementation, it was concluded that the mentoring and facilitation of trademark registration for Bantarsari SMEs were effectively addressed through continuous outreach and mentoring. The average increase in the effectiveness of mentoring and facilitation activities for Bantarsari SMEs trademark registration based on the collaboration between the village government and the campus reached 31.4%.

A SCALE TO MEASURE PERCEPTION OF FARMERS ABOUT AGRITECH STARTUP- FARMER PRODUCER ORGANIZATION INTEGRATION FOR IMPROVED EXTENSION ADVISORY SERVICES

To measure the perception of farmers about Agri-Tech startups - Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) integration for improved Extension Advisory Services a scale was developed with Likert’s summated rating technique. A list of 45 items regarding Agri-Tech startups - Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) integration was sent to 200 experts for their relevancy using google forms and personal follow up. Based on 75 expert’s ratings, the relevancy percentage (RP), Relevancy Weightage (RW) and Mean Relevancy Scores (MRS) were estimated. 37 items with RP > 70, RW > 0.70 and overall MRS > 2.31 were considered for item analysis. These items were administrated to 60 farmers for item analysis and items with ‘t’ value equal or greater than 1.75 were selected and those with ‘t’ value below 1.75 were rejected. Out of 37 statements, 28 statements were retained on the final scale through t-test item analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.77 and Guttman split half method was 0.72 which showed high reliability. The Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient calculated 0.68. The scales demonstrated precision and consistency, as evidenced by their validity and reliability measures. The scale developed to measure perception of farmers about Agri-Tech startups - Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) integration for improved Extension Advisory Services is deemed reliable and can be utilized by researchers in similar studies.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Impediments Perceived by the Members of Farmer Producer Organizations in North Bihar, India

The agriculture sector in India is currently facing several challenges, such as increasing landholding fragmentation, diminishing per-capita land availability, and rural youth's disinterest in farming. FPOs help small and marginal farmers by lowering transaction costs, facilitating credit sources for farmers, providing technical guidance, producing support and capacity building, and creating long-term sustainability to improve the farming community. This study investigates the constraints perceived by members of FPOs. Data were collected from 240 members across 6 FPOs. An ex-post facto research design was used to study four broad constraints regarding Producer Organization Promoting Institution’s (POPI’s) support, marketing, organizational technical and operational constraints. The Friedman two-way ANOVA rank test was used to analyze thirty-five statements under four broad constraints. The findings revealed that marketing is the most severe constraint, followed by constraints regarding POPI’s support as well as organizational, technical, and operational support. Under marketing constraints without guaranteed procurement systems, inadequate storage facilities are most severe. Under constraints perceived by FPO members regarding POPI’s support, considering resource-affluent areas and exclusive attention to progressive farmers are significant. Competition of villages to get benefits and irregular procurement of the produce are most significant constraints under organizational and technical constraints. The research indicates that by overcoming these obstacles with better infrastructure, fair distribution of resources, and improved connections to markets, one can boost the sustainability and economic feasibility of Farmer Producer Organizations, thereby enhancing socio-economic benefits for farmers in North Bihar.

Professional networks and access to extension as drivers of sustainable agricultural practices among Ghanaian oil palm farmers

Increasing agricultural productivity through the uptake of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) offers a credible pathway to addressing food insecurity while preserving vital ecosystem resources, as such, factors that drive farmers' decisions to adopt these SAPs need examination. Most extant studies, on the adoption of SAPs, however, tend to place emphasis on socioeconomic incentives, giving little attention to the role of professional networks and institutional factors especially on oil palm which has strong links to deforestation and reduction in tree cover despite the numerous economic benefits. Using cross-sectional data from six oil palm producing regions in Ghana, this study analyses the role of producer membership, links with institutions such as NGOs, and extension access in the adoption of improved seeds, fertilizers, pest management practices, soil and moisture conservation practices, and legume cover crops among oil palm farmers in Ghana. The study employs a multivariate probit model to examine the probability of adopting SAPs and a poisson regression to model the intensity of SAPs adopted. The study also uses the instrumental variable approach to circumvent the issue of endogeneity. Results indicate that these networks and institutions significantly affect farmers’ adoption of SAPs. The study also finds heterogeneous associations with the adoption decisions depending on the type of innovation. In particular, we show evidence that farmers’ link with formal institutions is negatively associated with the adoption of diverse input intensive technologies, whereas it is positively associated with the adoption of natural resource management technologies. However, we find a consistent positive association of membership of producer organization on the adoption of different SAPs except legume cover cropping. Though differing relationships, we find that extension access and membership of producer organization are significantly associated with the intensity of SAPs adoption. Taken together, our findings suggest an integrated approach by the actors in the promotion of SAPs.

Socio-Economic Appraisal of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs): Empirical Insights from Northern Bihar

Socio-Economic Appraisal of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs): Empirical Insights from Northern Bihar

What Drives Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) Towards Success or Failure in Punjab: Evidence and Implications

The study explored the challenges faced by farmers in Punjab as members of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) registered with NABARD and proposed strategies to address these challenges. The data were collected from 263 farmer members and 32 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) registered with NABARD in Punjab in 2021. The research used a logit regression model to identify the variables that influence the success or failure of FPOs in Punjab. Findings revealed that out of 67 FPOs surveyed, 48 per cent were operational, 28 per cent were closed, and 24 per cent were untraceable. Factors that led to the collapse of FPOs included loss of business, dissolution of farmer membership, funding delays, industry switches due to low profit margins, and administrative issues. Pricing significantly impacted FPO profitability, and the presence of effective officers in districts highly influenced FPO success. The study underscored the need for clearer government policies to support FPO expansion and emphasized the importance of practical approaches in providing extension services by NABARD and other stakeholders

Understanding constraints in adopting recommended paddy cultivation practices: Insights from farmer producer organization (FPO) members and non-members in Andhra Pradesh

Understanding constraints in adopting recommended paddy cultivation practices: Insights from farmer producer organization (FPO) members and non-members in Andhra Pradesh

Examining the Operational Efficiency and Socio-Economic Influence of Farmer Producer Organizations (Fpos) in Telangana's Agricultural Sector

The study investigates the effectiveness and impact of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Telangana, focusing on socio-economic profiles, service effectiveness, and beneficiary attitudes. Three FPOs in Warangal, Hanumakonda, Yadadri Bhongir, and Kodangal were selected based on government certification. A sample size of 300 beneficiaries was interviewed, revealing characteristics such as education level, occupation, and income. Analysis shows moderate levels of extension agency contact, information utilization, and market orientation. Beneficiaries’ express satisfaction with enabled services, particularly market information dissemination. Notably, services like technology dissemination and procurement of inputs yield significant benefits, while areas like export and commodity exchanges lag. Overall effectiveness of FPO services is 80.02%. Impact assessment indicates medium to high levels of socioeconomic change post-FPO participation, including increased income, savings, and social benefits.

Development of performance evaluation matrix for farmer producer organizations in India

Development of performance evaluation matrix for farmer producer organizations in India

Impact Evaluation and Adoption of Climate Resilience and Nutrition Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato in Burundi: A Case Study of the Rural Bujumbura Province

The new orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties have been adopted with the aim of increasing production, farmers' welfare, and combating chronic malnutrition. This study analyzed the impact of orange-fleshed sweet potato adoption on production in Gihanga commune using the propensity score matching method. A survey of 385 households was carried out on April 2023, including 161 orange-fleshed sweet potato adopters and 224 non-adopters. The determinants and rate of adoption of orange-fleshed sweet potato were also analyzed using the logit model and the Average Treatment effect on the Treated (ATT) method respectively, while Kendall's Concordance Coefficient was used to determine adoption constraints. Thus, unpredictable weather and climatic conditions, lack of capital, unavailability of PDCO cuttings, insufficient arable land as well as high labor costs are the main constraints to orange-fleshed sweet-potato adoption. The adoption rate for orange-fleshed sweet potatoes is estimated at 42%. Adoption of PDCO was positively and significantly influenced by the household head's level of education, family labor, access to credit, access to extension services and membership of producer organizations, while the household head's age and household size had a negative impact on adoption. The ATT revealed that the adoption of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes increased production per adopter household by an average of 369.88 kg, although the difference was not statistically significant. The government and other players in the agricultural sector should do their part to raise awareness, disseminate, facilitate access and mobilize farmers to adopt sweet potato varieties in order to improve their productivity.

Evaluating the Impact and Challenges of Farmer Producer Organizations on Agricultural Development in Jaipur District, Rajasthan, India

This paper examines the role of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in agricultural development, focusing on their impact on income, employment, and work activities alongside the prevalent challenges they face. Through a detailed analysis of survey data, the effectiveness of FPOs is evaluated in key areas such as food availability, healthcare, and education. Additionally, the study identifies critical barriers including financial access, policy constraints, and the need for technical training. By highlighting these issues, the research aims to provide insights into improving FPO operations and enhancing their contribution to sustainable agricultural growth, thus supporting farmer empowerment and economic development.

Web page design to promote institutional linkage, research and development of productive projects of the RAYEN cocoa producer organization of the Raymundo Enríquez ejido of the municipality of Tapachula, Chiapas

Web page design to promote institutional linkage, research and development of productive projects of the RAYEN cocoa producer organization of the Raymundo Enríquez ejido of the municipality of Tapachula, Chiapas

Gender Differentials for Participation in Producer Organization Among Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from Nigeria

Linking smallholder farmers to formal markets through producer organizations is increasingly becoming a pathway toward agricultural inclusivity. This study investigated the disparities in participation between male and female groups in Nigeria. Data was collected from 604 farmers and decomposition analysis for three gender categories was carried out using the Fairlie decomposition technique. The results showed a 24.2% higher actual mean probability of participation for males over females and a 20.1% actual mean probability higher for male-headed households compared to female-headed households. There was also a 27.59% actual mean probability higher for the de facto female-headed households over de jure female-headed households. Diverse factors were found to push the gender gap at various magnitudes. Interventions targeting gender equality should be entrenched in understanding the social and cultural practices and norms in Nigeria.

Critical Analysis of Group Dynamics Effectiveness of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) Members in Assam, India

Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) is a legal entity formed by farmers with a major role in integrating both forward and backward linkages in the agricultural sector for enhancing farmers' income and their livelihoods through reduced cultivation and transaction costs. The present study to analyse the effectiveness of group dynamics of FPOs members was conducted in Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone (LBVZ) of Assam. In doing so, it utilized the descriptive research design following an ex-post-facto approach to fulfil the objectives of the study and to collect the cross-sectional data from 120 FPO member respondents through personal interview method during 2022. The study reveals that majority of the FPO members had a medium level of group dynamics effectiveness in all selected 12 indicators. The study also shows that among the identified 12 indicators to measure group dynamic effectiveness (GDE) of FPOs, group atmosphere was found with the highest mean value closely followed by teamwork, participation and group cohesiveness. The other indicators in order of importance based on their corresponding mean values were achievement of FPOs, confirmation to group norms, task function, decision making procedure, interpersonal trust, empathy and group communication. As many as 70 per cent members of FPOs in study areas had reported medium level of achievement of FPO, still there is huge scope for their further improvement and achievement in agriculture and allied activities and thereby enhance their income on sustainable basis. The study further reveals that Manikpur Joha Rice Producer Company Ltd. of Chirang district had the highest total GDEI score of 91.027. While Aya Baikho FPO Co-operative Society Ltd. of Goalpara district had the lowest GDEI score of 60.441.

Demographic Characteristics of Members of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Effectiveness of Group Dynamics and their Perceived Constraints in Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone of Assam, India

The present study to investigate demographic profile of FPOs members in the effectiveness of group dynamics and their perceived constraints was conducted in Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone (LBVZ) of Assam comprising six districts viz., Kamrup, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Chirang, Barpeta and Goalpara. In doing so, it utilized the descriptive research design following an ex-post-facto approach to fulfil the objectives of the study. A total of eight FPOs promoted by Assam Agricultural University through CBBO-AAU and World Bank supported APART project were selected purposively. From each FPO, 15 active members were approached for data collection through personal interview method during 2022, which made 120 as final size of sample. The analysis of profile characteristics of the respondents revealed that majority of the respondents (FPOs members) in study areas were middle aged (66.67%) between 29 to 50 years with education level from high school to graduate/ above (80.83%), 64.17 percent were from small family size upto 4 members, 90.83 percent of the respondents had medium level of annual income (i.e. Rs 33190-379866.6), 46.67 percent had medium level of socio- political participation and 38.33 percent low and 35.83 percent high levels of material possession. The study also found that lack of co-ordination for different group activities, ineffective linkage and ineffective monitoring, lack of professional management, non-availability of timely credit and inadequate access to credit, weak financial position, absence of adequate market linkage, lack of storage facilities, distance from existing markets, lack of market information, lack of marketing knowledge and skills and difficulty in getting skilled labour were the perceived problems faced by FPO members in effective functioning of FPOs.