A study on business operation of farmer producer organization - Case study on Velliangiri Uzhavan farmer producer organization

Farmer Producer Organisation, popularly called as FPO is an organization, where the members are farmers itself. FPO provides end-to-end support and services to the small farmers, and cover technical services, marketing, processing, and other aspects of cultivation inputs. This study focuses on a selected FPO by case study approach, its major services offered, its turnover and to analyse its Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats. The case study focusses on the Veliangiri Uzhavan FPO in Pooluvapatti, Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu, as it was ranked 14th out of 769 Farmer Producer Organizations in India by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium, the Government of India. The major services offered by Veliangiri Uzhavan Farmer Producer Organization are: agri produce marketing, value added product, input and outlet shop, learning and skill development. The over-all turnover increases from Rs. 45,838 in the year 2013-2014 (inception) to Rs. 14.02 crores in 2020-2021.The total turnover till 2020-21 were Rs. 48.81 crores. The coconut, by-products of coconut, value added products of coconut and input shops were the major sources of turn over to the Farmer Producer Organization. The major ‘Strength’ was providing input and production services, development of skills of farmers, better bargaining ability of the farmer. The ‘Weakness’ were problem in adoption of new production technology by farmers, failure in marketing the produce, low level of participation by FPO farmers. The ‘Opportunities’ of FPO were different training for FPO, dealership with private company, regular interaction with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, bank and Agri department and economic procurement of input. The ‘Threats’ of FPO were competition from private companies, long-term sustainability, large numbers of middlemen in market value chain and to create unity.