We endorse the view that aggregation of farmers into Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) will improve their access to investments, technology, inputs and markets which in turn would increase their income levels.

With the idea to institutionalize industry-farmer partnership CII’s FACE established ‘Business Service Unit for FPOs’.

The program converges with the Government of India focus on strengthening the FPO ecosystem in the country and has a strong focus on training and capacity building of FPOs, market linkages, technology deployment and convergence with Government scheme.

Areas of Intervention

An industry led institutional engagement with farmers aimed at benefitting Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) by enhancing their capabilities, building scale, aggregating demand, strengthening market linkages, and improving access to advanced technologies in order to help increase Income.

Market Access

Aggregation and direct marketing of produce by FPOs is identified as an effective step towards managing marketable surplus, eliminating intermediaries, increasing bargaining power of farmers, reducing marketing costs, and ensuring better and remunerative prices to farmers. Aligned to the view market linkage is identified as a key pillar of the CII Business Service Unit for FPOs

Aligned to the view market linkage is identified as a key pillar of the CII Business Service Unit for FPOs. Under the program buy back arrangements for at least 60% of the produce is targeted.

disbursements

Training & Capacity Building

Capacity building is a key pillar of the CII-FPO program and focus is on 3 aspects :

  1. Agronomic advisory towards making agriculture sustainable and climate smart
  2. Post-harvest handling protocols towards reducing wastages and ensuring consistency in quality
  3. Building capacity on FPO management aspects on a regular basis to upgrade skills of the CEOs and Board of Directors
View Trainings

Convergence with Govt. Schemes

The CII FPO Business Service Unit is also working towards converging funding from center & state govt infra related schemes, Ag infra structure fund, PMFME etc. to help FPOs bridge the key infrastructure gaps and create economies of scale.

The infrastructure gaps are identified based on the baseline assessment and discussion with FPOs. Hand holding is being facilitated for making application, preparing DPRs etc. to help FPOs benefit from the government schemes.

Disbursements

Supported by Robust Digital Platform

The CII BSU supports member FPOs with all round Digital Platform that offers FPOs:

  1. Simple ERP solution for ease in FPO management of day-to-day operations
  2. Digital record of all transactions to get business level insights
  3. E-market place for Agri input and Agri output businesses
  4. Easily Accessable Knowledge repository
Benefits and Capabilities

Our Team

Jane Karkada
Senior Director
Jane Karkada is heading the CII’s Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence. Since 2014, Jane has led CII’s work on key developmental initiatives in the Western Region (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh & Goa). With MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai, Ms Jane has close to 15 years of work experience in the media industry, prior to joining CII.
Roli Pande
Director
Roli Pande is an MBA-Agri Business Management from MANAGE, Hyderabad and a graduate in Agriculture from GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology. She has been with CII since the last 10+ years working in the agriculture domain.
Rashmi Saini
Senior Associate
Rashmi Saini is working in the Agriculture vertical of CII FACE. She has more than 7 years of experience in the Agriculture sector. She is working on the CII FPO Program and managing the coordination between the FPOs & other stakeholders on various activities. She works on conducting primary & secondary research, value chain analysis of commodities, preparation of detailed project reports, and proposals. She holds PGDM(Agriculture) from the National Academy of Agricultural Research and Management-ICAR, Hyderabad and have done her graduation i.e. BSc (Hons) Agri from Navsari Agricultural university, Gujarat.

About CII FACE

CII’s Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (FACE) is charged with the mission to improve the competitiveness of India’s agriculture and food processing sector, by catalyzing innovation, building capacity, enhancing productivity, and establishing supply chain linkages across the agriculture and food value chain, ensuring food security and inclusive growth.

Over the last 10 years, FACE has worked closely with farmers, the private sector, developmental institutions, and the Government towards building efficiencies across the supply chain, right from the farm gate to the end consumer. With a team of 30 domain experts FACE has established itself as a credible knowledge resource in the agriculture and food domain.

FACE actively contributes to the ongoing policy dialogue related to agriculture and food- security concerns with a robust footprint of evidence-based policy research across Center and state government. The research portfolio is further strengthened by consultancy projects around program evaluation, impact studies as well as commodity-specific value chain assessments for the government as well as the private sector.

FACE Website