Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have the potential to empower smallholder farmers by harnessing their collective bargaining power and economies of scale. However, their success depends on overcoming numerous challenges, including the need for trained human resources, effective business modelling, sound finance, marketing, food safety, and brand building. FPOs’ partnerships with industries hold promise in addressing some of these key challenges. Strong FPO-industry linkages that support the 3Cs strategy of consolidation, capability and capital can ensure the proper functioning and viability of FPOs and are mutually beneficial for both FPOs and the industries involved.
While some of the initiatives have shown promising results, scaling up is necessary to benefit more FPOs. Potential areas for FPO-industry partnerships include:
Capital and finance: Capital is essential for organisational growth, and it typically takes three forms: grants, credit, and subsidies. While credit…
