Скачать или смотреть Krishi Voice by TAC - Amplifying Voices for Agri - Workshop on Agri Credit with FPOs - Part 1

Premise of the Workshop: As shared by the keynote speaker - Mr. Pravesh Sharma (former Secretary of Agriculture Dept. in Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, India representative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, MD of Small Farmers’ Agri-business Consortium i.e. SFAC), roadblocks identified for sustainable growth and development of agriculture in India are: A) Capital crisis – credit availability through public and private investments; B) Natural Resources crisis – degradation and erosion of soil, over-use and contamination of water leading to degradation of factors of productivity; C) Human resources crisis – since farming at small scale is not a profitable venture, most youth are opting out for more lucrative and reliable sources of income; D) Marketing crisis – for most farmers the market for their produce is restricted to their own districts only, thus restricting their options with limited demand and selling options.

With focus on the credit issue for farmers and FPOs, the panelists and participating FPOs across the country acknowledged how lack of timely and adequate credit for the small and landless farmers is a hurdle for farmers in making cultivation of crops a profitable business. With the exception of a few success stories and innovative examples to solving the credit problem for the farmers, an approach to solving issues at an ecosystem level were emphasized upon. The various challenges discussed in farmer-credit, their collective solutions and a few opinions are summarized in the output paper. Visit The Agri Collaboratory's website for more details.