Making FPOs viable

Financing remains a big constraint

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was well on the mark when he observed during his recent interaction with Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) that these bodies were empowering the farmers with collective strength. He also aptly spelt out the key benefits that the FPOs offered small and marginal landholders and other rural entrepreneurs. These include greater bargaining power, economies of scale, better risk management, capacity to innovate, and adaptability to market conditions. But these gains, in reality, are available only in the case of well-run FPOs, which, unfortunately, are not too many. Most of the 10,000 FPOs that have come up in