Farmer producer companies help pool market produce, resources

PUNE: A new corporate India is in the making as close to 1,000 companies owned by young farmers take shape and engage in businesses such as exports and direct marketing with revenue of a few crore rupees.

These farmer producer organisations (FPOs) have set up a state-level federation in Maharashtra last week, with support from the Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium (SFAC). "We now have the critical mass of FPOs to aggregate them at higher levels as state FPOs. The core competence of individual FPOs is production and not marketing of their produce or bargaining to get lower interest rate from banks," SFAC's Pravesh Sharma said.

Sharma said at higher levels, the FPOs would be able to take benefit of human resources skills by hiring professionals, as well as of technology. SFAC will be setting up seven state-level FPOs in 2014, including in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

About two lakh farmers are members of 260 FPOs promoted by SFAC. Apart from these 260, another 350 FPOs are under the process of registration. About 300 FPOs had been set up before SFAC started promoting them about three years ago. Maha FPO, as the Maharashtra state federation is called, has already collected share capital from 10 member FPOs and plans to have at least 100 member FPOs. Farmer producer companies in Maharashtra have started direct marketing of their produce to end consumers as well as organised retail.

"We are selling onions directly to traders in Patiala and Delhi," said Nitin Adangale, one of the members of a producer company from Sinnar in Nashik district. A farmer producer company from the tribal belts near Thane district has started export of okra through exporters and is in the process of getting a license for direct shipment. Mahesh Shelake's producer company from Junnar taluka in Pune district is already selling vegetables worth Rs 10 lakh every month at housing societies in Pune.

Showing pictures of the inauguration of a vegetable van on his laptop, Shelake said, "We will soon begin direct marketing at residential colonies in Mumbai." Maharashtra Agriculture Secretary Sudhir Kumar Goyal said such producer companies would be considered as private companies and given priority in all the programmes of the state government as part of public-private partnership schemes.

The Maharashtra agriculture department has prioritised the public private partnership projects over individual farmer projects for giving benefits under various programmes and subsidies.