Farmer producer organizations (FPOS) in India - A swot analysis Ponshunmugaraja T. Department of Economics, Dr. Ambedkar Government Arts College, Chennai-39 Online published on 18 December, 2023. Abstract Agriculture is backbone of the Indian economy and main instrumental in supporting the livelihood of the more than 50 percent of the population,besides contributing 17 percent of the country’s GDP.A majority 85 percent of the Indian farmers are either small or marginal categories with an average holding of 1.16 ha land even as it continues to show a declining trend due to subdivision and fragmentation. Moreover,more than 80 percent of the poor in rural areas are largely dependent on farming.Although,small holdings helps to reach higher productivity than medium and large farms,but their per hectare cost of production is much higher.The imperfect market conditions, low population densities in rural areas, remote locations, high transport costs, lack of market knowledge, limited business, lack of bargaining power, larger and stronger market intermediaries and impediments in accessing rich countries markets, confronting with international competition, the suppression of subsidies on inputs, inaccessibility to credit, suboptional investment decisions, unskilled human resource base, inadequate access to extension services and poor technological know-how are major problems confronting by the small and marginal farmers in this era of competitive and unstable environment in Indian agriculture1. In this context, the Government of India has consistently working hard to evolving better policies aimed at ensuring a better price to farmer’s produce. Based on the experience and success stories of the new-farm collectives, the concept of Producer Organizations (POS) has come to be well accepted by the Government of India, acknowledging the year of 2014 as the ‘Year of Farmer Producer Organizations’(FPOS). These organizations aim at enhancing farmers competitiveness and their relative position in the context of emerging market opportunities. Top |