Producer Organizations Research Articles

Technological differences in South African sheep production: a stochastic meta-frontier analysis

ABSTRACT This study compared four South African sheep producing districts relative to each other and a common metafrontier to analyse within and between group efficiency and explored what could be learnt from this technique compared to simple frontiers. A sample was compiled from sources that were previously successfully used in local benchmarking exercises, and despite very modest sample sizes at the group level and minimal information on how groups differ, the group models performed adequately while the meta-model performed very well. The results revealed that while within group performances were comparable across districts, there were huge differences in between group performance. These differences are partly attributable to natural resource endowments, but institutional arrangements also contribute significantly to local success. This suggests that to achieve rural regeneration public–private partnerships are necessary to address this issue. State support is insufficient and producer organisations have a major role in promoting institutional innovation.

Capital social et pauvreté des ménages ruraux au Burkina Faso

L'objectif : Cet article analyse l'effet du capital social sur la pauvreté des ménages en milieu rural au Burkina Faso. Conception/méthodologie/approche : La présente recherche suppose une relation causale à double sens entre la pauvreté et l'accès au capital social. Cela suggère un problème d'endogénéité conduisant à l'utilisation de deux méthodes en deux étapes : l'approche Probit moindres carrés en deux étapes (2SPLS) et l'approche du maximum de vraisemblance conditionnelle en deux étapes (2SCML). Les analyses se sont basées sur des données d'enquêtes du Programme National de Gestion des Terroirs (PNGT 2) collectées en 2011 auprès des ménages en milieu rural. Résultats : Les investigations ont révélé que l'accès au capital social affecte positivement la consommation des ménages et réduit la pauvreté. Ces résultats montrent, en outre, que le revenu est négativement associé à l'accès au capital social. Les stratégies gouvernementales visant à réduire la pauvreté des ménages en milieu rural doivent encourager l'organisation des producteurs en groupements avec un accent mis sur les producteurs à faible revenu. Originalité/valeur : Le capital social joue un rôle important dans l'amélioration des conditions de vie des ménages indépendamment de l'espace géographique. Cependant, les réalités socioculturelles varient selon l'espace, ce qui affecte l'organisation et le contenu des associations et des groupements. Malgré les nombreux travaux sur le sujet, très peu ont concerné le Burkina Faso. Les quelques travaux n'ont pas examiné la double causalité entre le capital social et la pauvreté. Cette recherche qui utilise des données d'envergure nationale peut contribue à approfondir et élargir les connaissances sur la question.

Effectiveness of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) at Different Growth Stages in Transitioning to Secondary Agriculture

FPOs are gaining recognition as institutions for improving the small holders’ farming in India. However, the extent to which FPOs effectively facilitate the transition to secondary agriculture for the sustainable development of these farmers has not been extensively studied. This study was conducted during 2022-2023 to assess the effectiveness of randomly selected four FPCs in Bihar, which are functional for 1-3 years, >5 years, and >10 years. A random sample of 160 members, 40 from each FPC, was selected. The overall effectiveness of 50.55 per cent to 56.20 per cent in FPCs at their initial stage of functioning; while the FPCs being functional for more than 5 years and more than 10 years showed overall effectiveness of 60.03 per cent and 68.40 per cent, respectively. The FPC diversifying their products and performing processing, manufacturing, and marketing functions showed the highest effectiveness (68.40%) as compared to the FPCs dealing with single products and/or performing selected functions like providing agricultural inputs, and marketing. A one-way ANOVA followed by Post hoc test revealed significant variations in the effectiveness of FPOs. The present study provides valuable insights into the role of FPOs in the transition to secondary agriculture providing better income and livelihoods to farmers.

Organizational Capacity Assessment of Community-based Organizations – A Theoretical Orientation

Community-based organizations need to be vibrant and rejuvenate themselves regularly according to the needs of donors. Revisiting the mandates and services to meet the emerging demands need regular assessment of capacity of these organizations. It needs a tool like Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) to have self-assessment among their stakeholders. This tool is utilized to design the capacity development plan and improvement of already existing plan. This tool has been utilized by more than 150 facilitators for almost two decades in and around more than 30 countries. This paper tries to briefl y orient theoretically, the nature, principles, functions, process and approaches of OCA, so that the agricultural extension fraternity may not only get some insight into this concept but also may apply towards functioning of community-based organizations such as Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).

Strengthening Millet Value Chain through Farmer Producer Organizations

Millets are a group of small-seeded “Nutri-Cereals” that are grown as food crops in many parts of the world and is need of hour for achieving nutritional security. In the traditional supply chain, millet farmers were not getting remunerative prices but being the members in Farmers’ Producer Organizations, the share in the consumer rupee was increased. The value chain approach was used for analyzing the supply chain aspects of millets to strengthen the linkages, increase efficiency, competitiveness, and profitability. The study was conducted during 2022-23 with ICAR-IIMR promoting FPOs. The establishment of a primary processing unit by ICAR-IIMR at the FPO farm gate through the FPO strengthened the millet value chain by engaging FPOs/SHGs/rural women/unemployed youth in preparing value-added products and delivering them through the GeM portal, ONDC, FPO Bazar, and e-commerce platforms. To meet the millet value chain challenges overall adoption of improved technologies, better market linkages, and increased investment in infrastructure were the key strategies. Primary processing, value-added technology adoption by FPOs and declaring minimum support price by the state government, and creating facilities to procure at MSP by establishing millet food parks, millet shakti cafes, and millet bazar were found key sources to generate better income.

Impact Assessment of Ri-Lajong FPO on the Livelihood of Farmers in Ribhoi District, Meghalaya

The study was carried out on Ri-Lajong Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO), Nongpoh, Ribhoi district, Meghalaya with the objective of examining the factors’ influence on the annual income of member farmers of FPO during the year 2021-22 and primary data consisted of 65 members collected from Ri-Lajong FPO. The Heckman two-stage selection model was applied. Results showed that FPO significantly influenced the income of farmers by providing various facilities to conduct activities crop production, forest products, piggeries, and fish farming. All farming activities except piggeries showed a positive response to increase the income of members of the FPO. The factors such as farmers’ education and training provided by FPO showed positive influence while hired labour had influenced negatively to the income of farmers. Therefore, the study concluded that educated youth of the state should join the FPO and attend the training program organised by the FPO as it will be helpful in income enhancement and reduce the unemployment level of the state.

Determinants of Performance and Constraints Faced by Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in India

Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) is believed to improve the livelihood of farmers by collectivizing them for input purchase and providing forward linkage. In order to understand the determinants of performance and the constraints faced by them, the study was undertaken by surveying 125 FPOs of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh during April-August 2022. It was found that most of the FPOs are engaged in input supply followed by produce aggregation. The FPOs with more number of enterprising activities were able to achieve higher turnover and better net profit. Multiple regression was used to identify the determinants of paid-up capital and turnover of FPO. Members number, BOD size and years of existence were found to be the determinants of paid-up capital of FPO. Paid-up capital was found to be significant predictor of turnover of FPO. Capital requirement was found to be the biggest constraint faced by FPO in achieving better performance. It was concluded that for increasing the turnover, the FPO should focus on increasing the paid-up capital as paid-up capital can be used for scaling up and expanding the business. Extending capital loan as well as working capital loan to FPO should be made easy.

Identification of Core Competencies for Managing Farmer Producer Organizations Using Factor Analysis

The study was conducted to identify core competencies essential for efficient management of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and their contribution to performance of FPOs in the national capital region of Delhi during 2021. Using random sampling procedure, data were collected from 80 farmer-directors from twelve FPOs in six districts of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in NCR of Delhi. Since directors of FPOs were found to lack managerial capabilities, they were exposed to several training programmes on how to manage their FPOs efficiently. But gaining knowledge and skills may not reflect in the competencies of trained farmers. Competency being the ability to apply knowledge and skill in accomplishing a task successfully, to measure the degree of competency possessed by directors of FPOs, a competency inventory was developed. The data were subjected to factor analysis to arrive at significant core competencies vital for success of FPOs. The factor analysis could confirm that six core competencies as indispensable for managing producer companies were; competencies for planning and business development, marketing management, controlling operations, financial management, democratic leadership, and managing business operations. Out of these, four competencies were found to significantly contribute to the performance of FPOs.

Differential behaviour pattern of farmers at different growth stages of farmer producer organizations (FPOs) in Bihar

Differential behaviour pattern of farmers at different growth stages of farmer producer organizations (FPOs) in Bihar

Challenges Faced by Farmer Producer Organizations and Suggested Policy Reforms

Challenges Faced by Farmer Producer Organizations and Suggested Policy Reforms

Elucidating the binary of entrepreneurial communication in farmer producer organizations (FPOs): The localite vs. cosmopolite information system

Elucidating the binary of entrepreneurial communication in farmer producer organizations (FPOs): The localite vs. cosmopolite information system

Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Livelihood Security Assessment for Sustainability : An Experience of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in Kerala, India

Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Livelihood Security Assessment for Sustainability : An Experience of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in Kerala, India

Linking Farmer Producer Organizations with Other Markets – A Sustainable Change in Marketing of Farm Produce

Marketing of agricultural produce is a complex process in India. Farmers do not have access to market, they are selling their produce to the intermediaries operate in the market because of this their profit margin is reduced and their farming business becomes a non-viable one. We can mobilize farmers in groups and build their associations called as Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs). FPO is a means to bring together the small and marginal farmers and other small producers to build their own business enterprise that will be managed by professionals. In the present environment of greater instability and competition, organisation and collective action can help to increase farmers’ competitiveness and increase their advantage in emerging market opportunities. FPOs also help in linking with other markets which helps in sustainable increase in income of farmers.The present paper showed the potential of FPOs in Andhra Pradesh in linking with other markets and Problems faced by the FPOs.

A scale to measure attitude of farmer members towards farmer producer organizations

Attitudes are individually attributed emotions, beliefs and behavioural tendencies an individual has towards a specific abstract or concrete object. To measure the attitude of farmer members towards Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs), need was realized to use a scale. So, Likert’s summated rating scale was developed by following the methodology given by Likert (1932) and Edward (1957). After in-depth reviewing of secondary sources and discussion with primary sources, six indicators were finalized to form the items for scale development. Based on 80 judge’s response 57 statements were selected for item analysis. The split half method was used to testing reliability and the reliability coefficient was 0.92. The face validity and content validity were examined. The developed final scale consists of 16 statements in which 11 were positive statements and 5 were negative statements. The developed scale was found highly reliable and valid.

Farmer producer organizations way for enhancing rural livelihood

The majority of people in India depend on agriculture and related industries for their livelihood, but this is insufficient to meet their needs or raise their families standards of living. The Indian government has been developing and promoting Farmer Producer Organizations by bringing together small and marginal farmers in an effort to improve the standard of living for rural residents. It will address issues like high production costs, restricted credit availability, weak market integration, and inadequate storage. The country currently has 5000 FPOs built and promoted by a variety of organisations, including NABARD, SFAC, state governments, NGOs, etc. Any FPO may be registered under a variety of legal forms, including Producer Companies, Co-operatives, and others. A total of 7374 producer companies with 4.3 million small producers were registered as of March 31st, 2019. The data showed that the Indian government and other organisations were putting a lot of effort into enhancing rural livelihoods through FPOs. The members of FPOs have more income, employment, savings, knowledge, technologies, processing, transport, market and storage facilities than the non-FPO members. It may be beneficial to develop rural areas and their means of subsistence.

Marketing Efficiency of Major Spices in Madhya Pradesh with Special References to Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs)

Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) and NABARD are providing technical & financial support for promotion of FPOs. The Kutir Agri Producer Company Limited, Betul is basically a corporate body registered as a Producer Company under Companies Act, 1956. The total spices grower members 214 of FPO and by using proportionate (5:1) random sampling method subjected to minimum 50 sample respondents were selected. Marketing cost, producer’s share, price spread and marketing efficiency were analyzed. The Farmers sell their spices product to FPO at the rate of garam masala (₹29814.40), red chili (₹9674.42), coriander (₹8843.32) and turmeric (₹ 6639.25) per quintal respectively. The marketing cost is high on garam masala (₹4816.17), red chili (1859.47), coriander (₹1743.62) & turmeric (₹1645.66) Rs per quintal and absolute market margin on garam masala (₹4533.85), Red chili (₹1474.97), coriander (₹1350.81) and turmeric (₹1037.16) Rs quintal respectively. Producer share in consumer’s rupees 71.22 to 76.13 per cent in spices. The maximum profit is obtained by FPO in garam masala (₹2298.37), red chili (₹738.32), Coriander (₹675.24) and turmeric (₹512.11). Government of India and NABARD should be providing market platform and procure of processed spices to FPOs. Government should be available machineries at subsidized rate for processing of their spices.

Social capital and members’ loyalty in agricultural producer organizations in Poland

The aim of the paper is to explain the importance of social capital for the survival and growth of producer organizations in agriculture. Our main research question concerns the underlying causes of lack of loyalty of growers-members to producer organizations. We link the problem of outside individual sales to deficits in necessary formal institutions safeguarding against member disloyalty. To assess the scale of the problem and to identify ways to counter this opportunistic behaviour, we use data from direct interviews with CEOs of 65 fruit and vegetable producer organizations (POs). We proved that in the smallest POs the occurrence of opportunism was completely eliminated by informal institutions related to bonding social capital. Conversely, in larger POs weak bridging-type relationships proved insufficient to build trust - producers were highly susceptible to outside incentives. Moreover, the use of formal institutions to protect from opportunism turned out to be surprisingly low in medium and large entities.

Progression of Farmer Producer Organisations in India

Present study was carried out to examine the status and growth of Farmer Producer Organizations across the states in India based on the secondary data collected for the periods 2015–16 to 2020–21. It was found that SFAC and NABARD promoted 3044 FPOs registered in the country. NABARD supported 2168 FPOs (71.22%) and remaining 876 FPOs (28.78%) have been supported by SFAC. Madhya Pradesh has the largest number/share of FPOs accounting to 10.15% of the total FPOs registered throughout the country. The FPOs promoted by SFAC increased at the compound growth rate of 15.22% and those promoted by NABARD increased at the rate of 1.34% per annum. At the country level, the average number of farmers per FPO are found to be 582. In addition, about 50% of the total farmers who are members of FPOs belong to five states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The region-wise study revealed that central region has the highest average number of FPOs (194.67) promoted by SFAC and the average number of FPOs promoted by NABARD were found highest in southern region (634.5). The variability and CAGR was highest in north-eastern region (39.77% and 26.43%) and eastern region (9.58% and 6.17%) promoted by SFAC and NABARD, respectively. In line with the policy framework of the Govt. of India, the State Governments may introduce appropriate flexible policy to scale up FPO promotion so as to become a self-sustaining commercially viable business enterprise of the farmers’ particularly of small producers.

Determinants of agricultural households to join farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in Northeast India: evidence from Sikkim

PurposeGovernment of India has launched FPOs to organise small and marginal farmers into farmer collectives called FPOs. These FPOs, through economies of scale, aim to provide better collective strength to farmers for better access to production technology, value-addition services, high-quality inputs and marketing services for improving their incomes. Recently, the government has launched a scheme for creation and promotion of 10,000 more FPOs in the country. Despite potential benefits of FPOs and encouragement from the Government, there are many farmers in India, particularly Sikkim, who do not join the FPOs. This study aims to identify the major determinants that motivate farmers to join FPOs.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data for this study was collected during October, 2019–February, 2020 from 560 farm households in all four districts of Sikkim, India. The study used two-sample t-test and FPO participation probit model for determining the factors influencing a household's decision to participate in an FPO.FindingsThe results of this study illustrate that education, farming experience, farming as the primary occupation, size of landholding, access to Internet, distance to the nearest market, medium level of social participation, extension contact, transportation facility and plan to expand the scale of operation in future are the major explanatory variables that have statistically significant impact on the farm households' participation in FPOs.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was based on a cross-sectional survey. As a result, the findings may be subjected to some limitations though the study made all possible efforts to minimise the limitations.Originality/valueThis paper is based on or a novel data set, collected specifically to examine the determinants of membership in Sikkim, India that has not been studied before. Moreover, this study has identified the importance of information and awareness initiatives among the farmers as responsible for farmers' participation in FPOs. The findings of this study will have important implications and lessons to draw from for the Central Government's effort towards Formation and Promotion of 10,000 new FPOs, especially in the hilly states of India.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2022-0216.

A Critical Review of the Drug Promotional Literature Published in Scientific Medical Journals and Available at Outpatient Departments: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.

Background A vital method used by pharmaceutical companies to make physicians aware of new drugs and increase the prescription and sale of the same is through drug promotion literature (DPL) published in scientific journals and distributed in outpatient departments (OPDs). It is important that drug promotion is done ethically to avoid the spread of false information for which guidelines are available at the international level by the World Health Organization (WHO) and at the national level by the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI). In this study, we aim to review the DPLs used for promotion by market authorization holders (pharmaceutical businessentities) in scientific healthcare journals and OPDs for their compliance with the "Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion" of the WHO and OPPI Code of Ethics Practice. In addition, we compare the ethical standard of the DPL available in scientific journals and OPDs with respect to existing norms and guidelines. Methodology A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching institute in Navi Mumbai, India. DPLs were collected from journals available at the institute library nearby published from January-June 2022 and from the outpatient departments of our hospital and other clinics nearby during the same time duration.Analysis was done according to the criteria given in WHO and OPPI guidelines. Each point in the criteria was scored as 1 or 0 based on whether the DPL was compliant or not respectively. DPLs were graded into 3 categories based on percentage compliance: Grade A (>70%), Grade B (35-70%), and Grade C (<35%). Results A total of 370 DPLs were collected, of which 191 (51.6%) were collected from scientific journals and 179 (48.4%) from OPDs. DPLs collected from journals showed that only 7.85% belonged to Grade A (WHO guidelines). According to the OPPI guidelines, 57.59% of the same DPLs belonged to Grade A. DPLs from OPDs showed similar results by both guidelines with >90% belonging to Grade B. Approximately less than 5% of the DPLs belonged to Grade C from both scientific journals and OPDs. Conclusions None of the DPLs were found to be entirely compliant with either of the guidelines. Most of the DPLs from both sources belong to Grade B, withinformation about adjuvants, adverse drug reactions, contraindications, drug interaction, and references to scientific literature missing from them. DPLs belonging to Grade C even had information about active ingredients missing from them which can lead to serious harm due to the wrong prescription of drugs.