Despite agriculture being a cornerstone of India's economy,
farmers often face low income, poor market linkage and limited access to modern
technologies, where agriculture plays a critical role, farmers also struggle
with unstable prices and inadequate infrastructure. Farmer Producer
Organisations (FPOs) are designed to organize marginal and smallholder farmers
into collective groups to improve their livelihoods. The study assesses the
role of three Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in enhancing rural livelihood
in Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu. One hundred and twenty farmers,
including 60 FPO members and 60 non-members, were surveyed to compare
socio-economic characteristics and livelihood impact. The study mainly focuses
on the marginal farmer having more members under the FPO. The main objective of
the study is to find out the different constraint and their impact. It also
aims to support the development of market facilities for agricultural produce,
enabling farmers to align their production with the market demand of Farmer
Producer Organizations (FPOs) and improve their access to resources for income
generation. The main motive behind this is to generate the resources to satisfy
their daily needs. Moreover, the study also examines the economic and
operational impact of such FPOs on the farmers' livelihood. It uses the Heckman
model to correct the selection bias present in the data. The Garrett ranking
method is used to identify significant constraints faced by FPOs and suggests
possible solutions. FPCs of Ramanathapuram district are looking to avail
themselves of the following sources of grants and loans. In total, 3 FPCs
received a total funding of ₹524.00 lakhs, wherein Parambai FPC received
₹205.00 lakhs, Ramnad Mundu Chilli FPO received ₹169.00 lakhs, and Thiruvadanai
Nerkkanjiyam FPC received ₹150.00 lakhs. In terms of factors, age, credit
through KCC and implements and machinery were significant at the 5 % level.
Farm size was positively associated with income (β = 0.039, p = 0.000), indicating
that larger farms generated higher incomes. Furthermore, the biggest marketing
hurdle, lack of access to current market trends (72.6 %), prevents farmers from
making informed decisions on pricing and sales. The study concluded that
maximising the impact of FPOs on farmer livelihoods would be critical by
strengthening institutional backing, increasing participation among farmers and
enhancing financial linkages. Future studies could explore the long-term
impacts of FPO membership through longitudinal data collection to capture
dynamic socio-economic changes over time.
Author(s)
Details
A.
Malaisamy
Department of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural College &
Research Institute, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
S.
Rithika
Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
M.
Raswanthkrishna
Department of Computer Science and Engineering (AI), Amrita
University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/asti/v3/5987
