Farmer producer company, constraints, organization participation, technological adoption, possession of equipment’s and land holdingsnadu

Indian agriculture is predominantly characterized by large number of dispersed and fragmented small holdings. Around 85 per cent of the land holdings belong to small and marginal farmers and being unorganized, these farmers are unable to realize good value for their produce. In India totally 7059 FPOs were registered, 898 by small farmers agri-business consortium (SFAC), 3904 by NABARD and 2257 by FPOs by IAs under CSS for formation respectively. In Tamil Nadu, totally 410 FPOs were registered, 13 by small farmers agri-business consortium (SFAC), 264 by NABARD and 133 by IAs under CSS for formation, respectively. The present study was conducted in Keerapalayam Collective Farming Farmers Producer Company Limited located in Chidambaram taluk, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, with a main objective of examining the socio- economic status of the sample member farmers and to evaluate the performance of the FPO and the constraints faced by the members. The results indicated that most of the respondents (53.75 per cent) were having medium size of land holdings, followed by small size of land holdings. Regarding farming experience, majority (60.00 per cent) of the respondents were having around 25 years of farming experience. Also (62.05 per cent) of the respondents belong to medium level income category. The factors constraining non participation in FPOs programme were its location, land requirement for the membership and the higher membership fee. Therefore, the promoting institutes should concentrate on strengthening the governance and management in FPOs for viable and long-time effective functioning. Recognizing that mobilising producers and nurturing fledgling businesses require different kinds of expertise, NABARD, SFAC and other government agencies should empanel different kinds of resource institutions who bring such skills.