Can farmers’ producers organisations be a sustainable livelihood program for farmers’ wellbeing, in Kerala, India?

Academic literature highlights farmers' producer organisations' (FPOs) success stories. However, there is not enough discussion on the strategies adopted by moderately functioning FPOs to survive the sustainability issues. There is a lack of investigation into the potential of collectives as a sustainable livelihood program to achieve the expected goals. Additionally, the vulnerability context and the capabilities of FPOs have not been examined using the sustainable livelihood approach. Therefore, the researchers aim to evaluate the FPO as a livelihood program using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF). A qualitative case study was conducted among the farmers to understand their perceptions. Key findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of vulnerability context, the capability of FPOs, and existing transforming structures and processes in FPO that enable the farmers to achieve sustainable outcomes. The study’s novelty and uniqueness reside in elucidating the contextual factors that influence the sustainability of FPOs and community-driven livelihood strategies adopted by farmers’ groups to mitigate their sustainability issues. Moreover, these qualitative case study findings generated propositions about why FPOs face sustainability issues and how they are surviving. FPO stakeholders can replicate these livelihood strategies in similar FPOs to achieve the expected outcomes of farmers’ collectives.