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Can Producer Associations Improve Rural Livelihoods? Evidence from Farmer Centres in India

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  • Raj M. Desai
  • Shareen Joshi

Abstract

Rural producer associations are considered a potential community-driven solution to the problems of smallholder agriculture. This article evaluates the impact of organising female farmers into producer associations in Gujarat, India. The initiative provided training, information, access to inputs, risk mitigation, and market linkages. Over 18 months, the programme weakly increased members' non-farm income and access to output markets. It had stronger impacts on members' awareness and utilisation of financial services. Impacts were heterogeneous, varying by pre-existing socioeconomic conditions. These findings suggest that producer associations can lower transaction costs for smallholders, but that poverty alleviation may be a longer-term prospect.

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  • Raj M. Desai & Shareen Joshi, 2014. "Can Producer Associations Improve Rural Livelihoods? Evidence from Farmer Centres in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 64-80, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:50:y:2014:i:1:p:64-80
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2013.849339
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    Cited by:

    1. Rahi Jain & Prashant Narnaware, 2018. "Role of Local Context in the Success of Farmer Collectives: A Review," Millennial Asia, , vol. 9(3), pages 318-335, December.
    2. Allison Benson & Jean-Paul Faguet & Maria del pilar López Uribe, 2020. "Increasing Access to Agricultural Credit: The Heterogeneous Effects of Collective Action," Documentos CEDE 18347, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Aggarwal, Shilpa & Francis, Eilin & Robinson, Jonathan, 2018. "Grain today, gain tomorrow: Evidence from a storage experiment with savings clubs in Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Sukhpal Singh, 2023. "(Farmer) Producer Companies in India as new generation cooperatives: Case studies of performance and impact from West Bengal, India," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 1007-1029, September.
    5. Wanglin Ma & Sanghyun Hong & W. Robert Reed & Jianhua Duan & Phong Luu, 2023. "Yield effects of agricultural cooperative membership in developing countries: A meta‐analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 761-780, September.
    6. Baeuml, Theresa & Möllers, Judith & Dufhues, Thomas & Wolz, Axel & Traikova, Diana, 2021. "What Motivates Commercial Small-Scale Farmers to Collaborate? Modelling the Intention to Join a Producer Organisation," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315034, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Bikkina,Nalini & Turaga, Rama Mohana & Bhamoriya, Vaibhav, 2015. "Farmer Producer Organizations as Farmer Collectives: A Case Study from India," IIMA Working Papers WP2015-01-05, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.

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