APIRAS APAARI Good Practice n.4. Enhancing organizational and functional capacities of producer organizations in India through strategic collaboration

In order to bring about sustainable transformation and business orientation into the Indian Agriculture sector, there have been schematic interventions to promote unique forms of social capital for farmers, called Farmer Producer organizations (FPOs). Many stakeholders, particularly NGOs, are involved in promoting and handholding these FPOs in a target-driven mode by promoting a large number of such institutions across the country. Although these institutions represent a strong form of social capital, their capacity as smallholder farmer members of FPOs is limited in terms of business acumen, access to credit, human resources, access to technology and markets, and consumer analysis. These institutions can realize their full potential in terms of agribusiness growth through collaboration, convergence and collective action. This calls for an integrated and innovative support system to developed the organizational as well as functional capacities by FPOs by enabling them to progress from the stage of promotion to that of business growth. In this Good Practice note, Hema Yadav, Sagar Wadkar and Anshu Singh discuss the need for a special purpose vehicle to create a win-win proposition for farmers/FPOs, promoting institutions (NGOs), and private players, and thereby co-create a competitive and sustainable business model. The inherent collaboration and partnership can help by providing access to capital, apart from reaping many other benefits such as technology, human resources and access to markets and consumers.