FPOs a hope for small farmers, institutional financing a worry

UPA as well as NDA governments have announced several measures to boost FPOs, but several problems remain

Tribal men and women, mostly belonging to the Garasia tribe around Pali district of Rajasthan, collected custard apples (sitaphal) from forests for years and sold them along the Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway for a paltry sum of Rs 2-3 a kg.

However, the same custard apple was sold at much steeper rates in cities and towns several kilometres away, leaving the collectors in the lurch because there was no functioning mechanism to process and aggregate their produce near the collection centres. The pulp of custard apples was even more valuable. 

However, things started changing around 2015, when tribal women collectors of villages