Famer Producer Organization/Company on Small Ruminants | Community Livestock Business Center

FPO/FPC is an organization, where the members are farmers themselves. FPO/FPC provides end-to-end support and services to the small marginalized farmers and covers technical services, marketing, processing, value chain, and other aspects of cultivation/production inputs. The idea behind the FPO/FPC was that “Farmers, who are the producers of their agriculture & allied products, can form the groups and can register themselves under the Indian Companies Act”.

Producer Organizations (PO) can register themselves under the Cooperative Society Producer Company Non-Profit Society or Trust or Section 8 Company. The ownership of the PO is with its members. It is an organization of the producers, by the producers, and for the producers. One or more institutions and/or individuals may have been promoted by PO by way of assisting in mobilization, registration, business planning, and operations. However, ownership control is always with members and management is through the representatives of the members. Any individual or institution can promote a PO. Individual persons or institutions may promote PO using their own resources out of goodwill or with the noble objective of the socio-economic development of producers. If, however, the facilitating agency wishes to seek financial and other support, then they have to meet the requirements of the donor/financing agency.

To facilitate the process, the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) was mandated by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI, to support the State Government in the formation of the FPO/FPC. The goal is to enhance the farmers’ competitiveness and to increase their advantage in emerging market opportunities.

NABARD, SFAC, Government Departments, and Corporate and Domestic & International Aid Agencies provide financial and/or technical support to the Producer Organization Promoting Institution (POPI) for promotion and handholding of the PO. Each agency has its own criteria for selecting the project/promoting institution to support.

The primary producers have skill and expertise in producing. However, they generally need support for marketing what they produce. The PO will basically bridge this gap. The PO will take over the responsibility of any one or more activities in the value chain of the produce right from procurement of raw material to delivery of the final product at the ultimate consumers’ doorstep. In brief, the PO could undertake the Procurement of Inputs, Dissemination of Market Information, Dissemination of Technology and Innovations, Facilitating finance for Inputs, Aggregation and Storage of Produce, Primary Processing (drying, cleaning, and grading), Brand Building, Packaging, Labeling and Standardization, Quality Control, Marketing to Institutional Buyers, Participation in Commodity Exchanges & Export.

Goat business is totally unorganized and there is so many problems in the marketing of produce by Farmers. Besides this, farmers are not able to work on value chain development & other processed products of this business. Looking at the farmer's level problems, the TGT Group of Organization works on the institutional development model under the Goat-based Livelihood Programme and promotes the FPO/FPC named Community Livestock Business Center (CLBC) to date 14 such institutions developed in Maharashtra & Jharkhand with the support of MSRLM & JSLPS. We’re in the process to formation of 8 such other CLBCs in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh & Tripura with the support of different organizations/partners. 13 CLBC of Maharastra is registered under the Section 8 Company Act and the annual turnover of each CLBC is more than 1.5 Crore. The major products & services of CLBC are as per below:

• Input Products like Concentrate Feed, Mineral Licks, Herbal Masala Bolus, Herbal Neem Wound Oil, Herbal Medicines, etc.

• Output Products: Live Goat/Buck Sale on LBW

• Value Added Products: Goat Dung Manure, Raw Goat Milk, Goat Milk Soap, Goat Milk Handwash, Goat Milk Face Cream, Goat Milk Body Lotion, Goat Milk Cheese, Goat Milk Paneer, Fresh Meat etc.

• Services: De-worming, Vaccination, First Aid Services, Castration, Artificial Insemination, Training of Farmers, etc.

For more information about the Institutional Model (FPO) in small livestock, feel free to get connect with us.

Credit: NABARD