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Unveiling the dynamics of farmer producer organizations in India: a systematic review of status, challenges, and future directions

Author

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  • Sharvari Patil

    (Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Symbiosis International (Deemed University))

  • Mita Mehta

    (Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Symbiosis International (Deemed University))

  • Garima Pancholi

    (Amity University)

  • Abhineet Saxena

    (Amity University)

Abstract

India, a developing country heavily reliant on the agricultural sector, has witnessed the emergence of farmer producer organizations (FPOs) as a transformative collective model for farmers as an alternative to traditional cooperatives. The FPOs aim to solve the problems encountered by small and marginal farmers, especially those about better access to capital, technical improvements, and efficient inputs and markets. A comprehensive review of the literature in this field is essential because of the rapid advancement of FPO research articles. Scholars have published several review articles on FPO from different perspectives to tackle this issue. However, there is not a considerable number of published studies on FPO that incorporate bibliometric analysis. In the present study, an attempt is made to investigate the FPO publications with bibliometric analysis. This study employs a systematic literature review methodology, focusing on research published between 2002 and 2023. From an initial pool of 3796 research articles, 64 relevant studies from the Scopus database were identified for the study. These papers were analyzed using publication, journal, country, and author productivity, as well as the highest cited documents, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling analysis, and cluster analysis. The findings reveal that most studies focus on assessing the performance of FPOs, with limited attention to critical areas like institutional support, leadership, and policy execution. The cluster analysis results revealed that agricultural marketing, sustainable agriculture, the impact of membership on performance, women in agriculture, manufacturing, sustainability driving innovation, and technological efficiency of the food supply chain are the emerging themes in the literature. This paper provides policy recommendations on some significant challenges FPOs face, such as streamlining documentation, enhancing market access, ensuring fair tax treatment, allowing fertilizer distribution rights, and promoting farmer-led leadership.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharvari Patil & Mita Mehta & Garima Pancholi & Abhineet Saxena, 2025. "Unveiling the dynamics of farmer producer organizations in India: a systematic review of status, challenges, and future directions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05063-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05063-9
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