In today's era agriculture comprises 50 % of employment in India and contributes over 20 % to the country's GDP. While big farmers in the country are finding new ways to maximize their profit by increasing production, the small-holding farmers struggle in their lives that giving rise to the demand for wheat and thus, increasing the price of fuel and fertilizers.

Therefore, a Chennai-based Agri-tech is helping small-holding farmers to help themselves into farmer-producer organizations (FPO) and increase the quantity and quality of their produce.

Why Did India Started FPOs?

FPO facilitates the small-holding farmers as a whole in the technical, marketing, processing, and other cultivation aspects as well. The idea is going to help the farmers who are producing essential foodgrains by registering themselves in the Indian Companies Act. The motive behind that is to enhance competitiveness and increase opportunities in the emerging market.

The three broad objectives of FPO are Farmers' need to access capital, markets, and technology.

Objective Of The Organization

Samunnati started the organization with the motive to remove the problems of small-holder farmers. FPO provides massive opportunities to the farmers which contribute to 87% of the total production. Samunnati has assisted more than 3000 FPOs through market linkages, lending capital and technology solutions amongst many others.

In conversation with The Logical Indian, Tulsa Prajapati, the Chairperson of Damoh Mahila Kisan Pvt, Ltd. shared that she started working with Samunnati almost 6 months ago. In June 2021, Damoh FPO had more than 310 shareholders. The biggest challenge that came into the way was to make the initial investment of Rs 1,000. The first crop that we sold during the lockdown was wheat.

EXECUTIVE OPINION:

The Logical Indian, Pravesh Sharma, the Director of Samunnati Agro explained, "If a farmer has a small land-holding, then their bargaining power in the market is limited. Institutions hesitate to lend money to small farmers because they do not think that the farm is viable. On the contrary, a big farmer's viability is never in question".