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. While Group dynamics is a
field of enquiry concerned with extending knowledge about the nature of groups,
their development, and their interrelationships with individuals, other groups
and institutions. Group dynamics as a subject of study has its roots in both
psychology and sociology. The present research is intended to critically
examine certain important indicators of group dynamics and their influence on
team effectiveness in Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPO) settings. The study
was conducted in the Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone (LBVZ) of Assam by utilising
the descriptive research design and 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 the personal interview method during 2022. The study
reveals that the majority of the FPO members had a medium level of group
dynamics effectiveness in all 12 indicators. The study also shows that among
the identified 12 indicators to measure group dynamic effectiveness (GDE) of
FPO, 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 FPO, confirmation to group norms, task function, decision making procedure,
interpersonal trust, empathy and group communication. As many as 70 per cent
members of FPO in study areas had reported a medium level of achievement of
FPO, still there is a huge scope for their further improvement and achievement
in agriculture and allied activities, and thereby enhance their income on a
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. To build a prosperous and sustainable agriculture sector
by promoting and supporting member-owned Producer Organisations, which enable
farmers to enhance productivity and sustainable income generation, it is of
paramount importance for cost-effective and sustainable resource use to realise
higher returns for their produce, through collective actions including
extension programmes supported by the government, research agencies, civil
society and the private sector.
Author(s) Details
Amrita Singha
District Agricultural Office, Nagaon, Govt. of Assam, India.
J.K. Sharma
Horticultural Research Station, Kahikuchi, Assam Agricultural University,
India.
A.K. Singha
ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone-VII,
Umiam, Meghalaya, India.
Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nabme/v12/6942
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