A study on perception of farmers on farmer producer companies in Tamil Nadu

Agriculture and its allied industries have been the only sector in which uncertainty has persisted for years without a meaningful response. In India, farmers challenging to deal with constraining elements as well as limited landholdings, high costs in distributing produce to customers, excessive agency prices, and no fair returns from the produce. Producer Company is a novel concept for addressing the shortcomings of cooperative experiences, responding to social demands for grouping marginal and small farmers, strengthening their mutual control, and integrating their livelihoods into lucrative marketplaces. A total of 200 farmer members of Farmer Producer Companies were selected purposively to examine their perception on Farmer Producer Companies and constraints faced by the members while accessing services from FPCs. Fifteen statements on perception were employed and the results showed that highest mean score was given for the statement standards, guidelines, and requirements to join FPC (4.43) and the lowest mean score was for financial assistance provided to its members by the FPC (1.95). Lack of coordination between farmer members and having very limited credit facility were the most important challenge faced by the sample farmer members with respect to administrative activities and services rendered by the Farmer Producer Companies.