(Small) Farmer Livelihoods under Liberalised Agricultural Market Environment in India: Can Farmer Producer Companies be an Alternative?

Abstract

This article examines the rationale and experience of Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) in the context of their promotion and public funding on a large scale. Simultaneously, corporate players have been provided a larger and free space under the APLM and CF&S Acts of 2017 and 2018, respectively. At the state level, the agricultural market reforms started with the model APMC Act of 2003, and the Producer Companies Act was passed in 2002. India is the second Asian country after Sri Lanka (where they mostly failed) to try this hybrid form of producer organisation. Based on empirical evidence from across states, the article assesses their (FPCs’) physical and financial performance and impact and examines their market interface to improve farmer incomes by creating a producer agency. It dwells on their experiences with corporate players/buyers and their own efforts to create alternative market mechanisms to connect small farmers effectively with modern mainstream or alternative markets.