A study on the impact of farmer producer organization on its members in Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu

The study was carried out among the member respondents of FPOs of Tiruvannamalai district with a total sample size of 100 respondents selected through proportionate random sampling from active FPOs of the district in an intention to find out the impact of farmer producer organization on its members. The interview schedule was used to collect the information from the respondents by personally interviewing the farmers and the data was analyzed by using suitable statistical measures. The result found that there was remarkable knowledge development of FPO member respondents in group formation activities (50 %) and better bargaining power (35%). It was also observed that higher technical development of member respondents with their involvement in farmer producer organization in getting better extension support, Implementation of Good Agricultural Practice, Value addition and skill development. The FPO has increased its influence among the member farmers with its welfare services and increased household income to a great extent through better market facilitation and enhancing all round family occupation. It was also observed that FPO shared its profit among FPO members with respect to their volume of products. It has increased the faithfulness of the group and accelerates the growth of the group. The members have harnessed the opportunities in conglomeration of a number of farmers in reducing their input and transport cost and capacity building on innovation technologies for better production. There is a need for a greater recognition of the importance of linking with other actors who are potential sources of services, information, technical support and market outlets. More importantly, from the supply side, strengthening the capacity of service providers and external actors (Government, NGO, church-based, and private sector) will be needed to complement strategies supporting linkages State governments may encourage FPOS to perform as agencies for procurement operations and extend to develop forward linkages through storage, postharvest processing, value addition for enhanced access to fair market.