Farmers Produce Organisations:
How need was established: Despite the rising technology startup revolution across India, the livelihoods of a majority of the countrys population are dependent on agriculture. In 2018, over 50,000 farmers from across the nation walked hundreds of kilometres to highlight their woes, and how poor product prices and lack of direct market linkages have negatively impacted the incomes of agricultural communities.
Even as farmers take to the streets to highlight their plight, agritech startups have cropped up across India to facilitate profitable and sustainable farming.
And thanks to the governments Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) initiative, numerous collective, farmer-owned companies are now helping marginalised farmers earn stable livelihoods. Members are usually small farmers who are empowered by FPOs to trade in agricultural platforms. These FPOs follow a B2B model.
Farmers are the backbone of our country. However, despite their invaluable contributions to our very survival, little is done to empower farmers and ensure their prosperity. Fortunately, FPOs are now taking the lead in ensuring that farmers livelihoods are not just sustainable but also flourishing.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech on July 5 said that cooperatives and farmer producer organizations (FPOs) will be the primary vehicles for ensuring better prices as part of the governments plan to raise income and make farming a more rewarding economic activity.
We hope to form 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations, to ensure economies of scale for farmers over the next five years, Sitharaman said.
She also announced that the government would invest widely in agricultural infrastructure and support private entrepreneurships in driving value-addition to farmers produce from the field. For allied activities, like bamboo and timber government would focus on value-addition from the hedges and for generating renewable energy.
The finance minister also said that the government will set up a mechanism of direct marketing of vegetables, fruits, dairy and fishery products through farmers cooperative organisations to ensure that farmers earn better prices for their produce.
Farmers in the country can now practice cooperative farming by forming groups and the Centre has made a law that promotes such type of farming.
The law has been sent to states and farmers can now form cooperatives or sign MOUs to practice cooperative farming.
Farmers can now officially get together and form MOUs and Farmer Producer Organisation (FPOs) to do cooperative farming as per the new law. The Centre has said that state and central governments will also offer all kind of help to such farmers for doing cooperative farming as per the new law.
The main focus of the governments new agriculture policy is to bring the markets closer to the farmers.
Over the last two years, farmers have been protesting in several states, demanding better prices and debt write-offs. Low retail prices may be heartening to consumers, but persistently low wholesale food prices, have meant that farmers income have remained flat.
The government has shifted the focus the policy to removing regulatory and logistics barriers and aggregating markets to enable economies of scale.
Your company has started an initiative to create at least two FPO each for Cotton, PADDY, CASTOR, AND SLELECTED VEGITABLES.
DOUBLING THE FARMER INCOME
Past strategy for development of the agriculture sector in India has focused primarily on raising agricultural output and improving food security. The strategy paid dividends as the country was able to address food shortage that emerged during mid-1960s. During the last half a century (1965 to 2015), since the adoption of green revolution, Indias food production multiplied 3.7 times while the population multiplied by 2.55 times. The net result has been a 45 per cent increase in per person food production, which has made India not only food self-sufficient at aggregate level, but also a net food exporting country.
The net result has been that farmers income remained low, which is evident from the incidence of poverty among farm households. The goal set by the Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi to double farmers income by 2022-23 is central to promote farmers welfare, reduce agrarian distress and bring parity between income of farmers and those working in non-agricultural professions.
If technology, input prices, wages and labour use could result in per unit cost savings then farmers income would rise at a much higher rate than the output. Another very important source of increase in farmers income is the relative increase in prices of farm products compared to the prices of non-agricultural commodities.
Strong measures will be needed to harness all possible sources of growth in farmers income within as well as outside agriculture sector, such as
1. Improvement in productivity, using
New Input Technology
a. Productivity of most of the crops in the country is low and there is considerable scope to raise it. Productivity of most of the crops in the country is below world average and much lower than agriculturally advance countries.
2. Resource use efficiency or saving in cost of production
3. Increase in cropping intensity
4. Diversification towards high value crops
a. Diversification towards high value crops i.e. Horticulture, Vegetable and Cash crops (HVCs) offers a great scope to improve farmers income. The staple crops (cereals, pulses, oilseeds) occupy 77 per cent of the total or gross cropped area (GCA) but contribute only 41 per cent of total output of the crop sector. Average productivity of Horticulture, Vegetable and Cash crops after adjusting for cropping intensity variations was estimated as Rs. 1,41,777 per hectare as compared to Rs. 41,169 per hectare for the staple crops.
The sources outside agriculture include:
1. Provide new opportunity to cultivators from farm to non-farm occupations, and
2. Improvement in terms of trade for farmers or real prices received by farmers.
Several measures have been initiated by Government of India to increase value addition for farmers. An important measure targeted at better price realization by the farmers is e-NAM. The center is also persuading states to undertake various market reforms. Among other things, these reforms aim to reduce middle men, modernize value chain, attract modern private investments in agri market and, therefore, ensure better deal for the farmers.
Quality seed and optimum use of fertilizer are important pillars of growth in productivity.
Technology and innovations
Sustainable growth in productivity and farmer income requires a paradigm shift from input intensive technologies. Breakthroughs in basic and other modern sciences offer voluminous opportunities for developing transformative technologies for agriculture. However, this has not been happening for a variety of reasons. Further, the challenges in agriculture are becoming more formidable, addressing these challenges require a vibrant, responsive, and globally competitive research systems equipped with state of the art knowledge and scientific manpower of high calibre equipped with adequate resources.
Your Company is engaged in new peptide technology, which provides state of the art New Input Technology , using these peptide input of the company farmers can easily double their income. (By reducing use of chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals at least by 30 % and getting addition high quality yield upto 25 %)
a. Opportunities and Threats.
To revolutionize the farming technique by educating farmers to adopt Hi-Tech Eco-friendly Farming so as to make farming sustainable. This is possible by using modern communication tools. It is economically viable now by motivating target farmers to practice modern technology to get higher yield with less cost.
In order to keep up with the global competitors that have entered the Indian agricultural market and the wide spread network of Dealers and farmers, the Company is implementing an in-house extension programme for farmers, to try our products which will lead to demand generation.
b. Segment - Wise or Product – Wise performance.
In organic input market, companys soil amendment products and micronutrients are in high demand by farmers. Specialty Bio Fertilizers are also well received. Companys Function specific products have created demand from Cash Crops and horticulture segment.
c. Internal Control System and their adequacy.
The company has adequate internal control systems and procedure with regard to purchase, stores and raw materials including components, plant and machinery, other assets and for sale of goods.
The company has an adequate internal audit system commensurate with size and nature of its business. The company has engaged a firm of Chartered Accountants for its internal audit function. Reports of Internal Auditors are reviewed in the meetings of the Audit Committee of the Board.
d. Material developments in Human resources / Industrial Relations front, including number of people employed.
Industrial relations continued to be harmonious and cordial throughout the year. The Company has always valued its human resources and believes in unlimited potential of the each employee. The company employed 113 number of employees as on 31.03.2019.
e. Discussion on Financial Performance with respect to operational performance.
(Rs. in Lacs)
| PARTICULARS |
Year ended 31/03/2019 |
Year ended 31/03/2018 |
| Income for the year was |
1878.69 |
2005.04 |
| The years working shows a Gross Profit of |
(95.63) |
93.02 |
| Out of which, Provisions have been made for :- |
|
|
| Depreciation |
41.11 |
35.17 |
| Provision for Taxation : |
|
|
| (i) Current Income Tax |
0.00 |
17.50 |
| (ii) Deferred Tax |
|
|
| Provision for doubtful debts |
907.18 |
20.00 |
| Previous year expenses |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Profit / Loss after Income Tax |
(1043.92) |
20.35 |
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