FPOs as a Sustainable Business: Factors impacting performance of Agriculture Collectives in India

Abstract

In recent years, the government’s focus on promoting FPOs has led to an increase in FPOs multifold. However, with the fast growth of FPOs, it is important to identify what impacts the performance of FPOs. This study raised the question, “What impacts the performance of FPOs? This study attempts to identify the measures for the performance of the FPOs. The Delphi round was conducted with 26 experts identified from agriculture. The performance measures were identified and linked with the literature. In the second round of Delphi, the experts were provided with eleven measures for performance and were asked to rank them. Based on the weightage of each criterion the most important criteria were decided. The mean ranks and deviations of the performance measures were analyzed. The hypothesis test and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance have been further used to validate the performance measures. It has been observed that governance of the farmer-producer organization, financial support, and professional management are the core measures for farmer producer organizations. Measures like Management Information Systems, Business Plan Preparation, Share capital, Turnover, Infrastructure, Market Linkages, Technical Support, and Age of FPO play an important role in the performance of the FPOs. This study will be helpful for all the stakeholders, including FPOs themselves, funding agencies, skill-building organizations, etc.