Agriculture is one the most important sector of the Indian Economy and it accounts for 18% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment to over 50% of the country’s workforce.

According to a report from IBEF, Gross Value Added (GVA)by agriculture, forestry and fishing was estimated at Rs. 19.48 lakh crore (US$ 276.37 billion) in FY20. Growth in GVA in agriculture and allied sectors stood at 4% in FY20. Essential agricultural commodities export for the April-September period of 2020 increased by 43% to Rs. 53,626 crores (US$ 7.3 billion) over Rs. 37,397 crores (US$ 5.1 billion) in the same period last year.

As we can infer that government is doing everything to uplift the agriculture sector, there are other initiatives being launched at the ground level. Over the last few years, leveraging on the power of aggregation and collectivisation, Farmer Collectives have become a most sought-after institutional structure for bringing the farmers together, to represent themselves in the market. The Government of India has also taken concerted efforts to incentivise farmers to promote Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). The FPOs are formed to improve farmer presence in the market, enable them to access available resources and as a result, better value for their produce. FPOs can leverage the strength of collectivization to facilitate farmers with ample number of opportunities to become a key stakeholder in the Value chain. The government is looking to create 3,500 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in next three years.