Farming Futures Reimagining Producer Organisations in India

This book studies the management challenges and possibilities in sustaining farmer producer organisations (FPOs). It goes beyond the conventional metrics of cost-benefit analysis by drawing on 15 case studies of diverse FPOs spread across India to fill a significant knowledge-practice gap in the domain of producer collectives. The book explores issues of ownership and governance, studies the empirical basis for policy decisions on FPOs, and provides actionable insights and knowledge, keeping in mind the complexity of the institutional design of an FPO. It also discusses the envisioned role of civil society organisations in supporting FPOs and looks at the kind of institutional innovations that are needed to create a cohesive ecosystem for FPOs. A unique collaborative project jointly authored by academics and development practitioners, the book will be of use to students and researchers of agricultural economics, environment and business, agricultural development, environmental economics, rural studies, entrepreneurship, and South Asian studies. It will also be of interest to development professionals, civil society organisations, and policymakers.

List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Foreword Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1 Producer organisations as 21st-century farmer institutions C. SHAMBU PRASAD, AJIT KANITKAR, AND DEBORAH DUTTA 2 Dynamics of incubating a multi-community, multi-commodity, multi-location FPO: the case of Krushidhan Producer Company in Gujarat ASTAD PASTAKIA AND SACHIN OZA 3 Jeevika Women Agri Producer Company Limited: the timid rise of an all-women state-promoted FPC in an “aspirational” district of Bihar SUDHA NARAYANAN, MILEE PARMAR, AND RITESH PANDEY 4 Leveraging institutional arrangements in accessing markets: the case of Bhangar Vegetable Producer Company Ltd DEBORAH DUTTA AND SUDIPTO SAHA 5 Connecting tribal women to markets through promotion of sustainable agriculture: the case of Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company Ltd ABHISHEK SAXENA, RAJAT TOMAR, AND ANIMESH MONDAL 6 Sustaining value chains of non-timber forest produce: the Mahanadi Producer Company in Chhattisgarh NIRAJ U. JOSHI AND NIKHILA SHASTRY 7 Markets that empower women farmers’ collectives VAIBHAV BHAMORIYA AND ANITA PAUL 8 Krishi Bagwani Swawlambi Sahakari Samiti Limited: adaptive management and convergence in an all-women tribal collective GAUTAM PRATEEK, PRANAMESH KAR, AND DEBANJAN GHATAK 9 Is the Amul model possible in pulses? The case of Hasnabad Farmers Services Producer Company Limited AJIT KANITKAR AND C. SHAMBU PRASAD 10 Traditional tribal goat-rearer women taking the FPC way: the case of Pandhana PashuPalak Producer Company Limited, Madhya Pradesh SHILPA VASAVADA AND NAVEEN PATIDAR 11 Market-first approach of a community institution: the case of Kazhani Farmer Producer Company in Tamil Nadu PARTHASARATHY T., PALLAVI G. L., AND BALAKRISHNAN S. 12 Bridging smallholder fruit farmers and consumers: the case of Navyug Kisan Producer Company Ltd GOURI KRISHNA AND RAJESH VERMA 13 Sustaining livelihoods and securing sovereignty: tracing the journey of Desi Seed Producer Company Limited, Mysore, Karnataka TARA NAIR AND HAREESH BELAWADI 14 Federating for rapid (maha) growth: the MAHA Farmers Producer Company in Maharashtra AJIT KANITKAR 15 Seeding an FPO movement: the Madhya Bharat Consortium in Central India C. SHAMBU PRASAD AND ABHISHEK SAXENA 16 From civil society origins to an independent marketing federation of farmer producer organisations: the case of Gujpro Agri-business Consortium SACHIN OZA AND ABHISHEK SAXENA 17 Reimagining producer organisations in India C. SHAMBU PRASAD, AJIT KANITKAR, AND DEBORAH DUTTA Index

C. Shambu Prasad is Professor, Strategic Management and Social Sciences, the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), India. His expertise and research include several interdisciplinary fields such as social entrepreneurship, science and technology studies, rural livelihoods, innovation management, managing producer collectives, and sustainable agriculture. He has been a Fulbright senior research fellow at Cornell University. He founded IRMA’s incubator in 2016 and mentors and advises several social enterprises, producer organisations, and start-ups. He is a co-editor of Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India (2019). He is a member of expert committees of the Government of India on science and technology and agriculture. He currently coordinates a project on “Small Farm Incomes” that explores co-creation of knowledge in agriculture by academicians and development practitioners. Ajit Kanitkar is a visiting faculty at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Udaipur, India. With a career spanning decades of work in the development sector, he was a senior advisor and researcher at VikasAnvesh Foundation, Pune. He has also served as the programme officer at Ford Foundation and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, both in New Delhi, and a faculty member at IRMA. He is associated with many civil society organisations across the country. His co-edited book in 2019, Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India (2019), is a unique collection of 15 contemporary case studies documenting in detail social enterprises in agriculture. In 2021, he co-edited Sowing Impact: Agri Entrepreneurs in India Stories of Innovation, Hope & Resilience. Deborah Dutta was a Senior Research Fellow at the IRMA, India, following her PhD from the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai. Her research areas span the field of environmental education and sustainable transitions with a focus on community-practice-based approaches such as urban farming. Her work explores community engagement, socio-technical systems, and sustainable food systems. She is a member of the South Asian Learning Sciences Collective and a 2021–22 fellow of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Leadership programme hosted by Engagement Global, Germany. She is also the recipient of a grant under “Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures” (TESF), a research network supported by the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).