Status of farmer producers organizations (fpos) in Andhra Pradesh

A variety of approaches have emerged over the years to address the problems of small and marginal farmers’ agriculture. In order to improve the welfare and living standards of farmers, there is a need to create appropriate ecosystem in the state. Such institutional arrangement/membership-based institutions are found to be the backbone for primary sector. Both Central and State governments are stressing on promoting ‘Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs)’ as an important strategy for creating an ecosystem for enhancing farmers’ profits. The Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP)had organized a series of meetings will all stakeholders and came out with a strategy and policy for FPOs in the state. Further, the state is also envisioned to set-up 1000 FPOs to benefit at least one million farmers during the initial stages. ICRISAT has undertaken a comprehensive scoping study on FPOs in the state upon the request from Govt. of AP. This study is an outcome of intensive discussions with several proposed and functional FPOs and other stakeholders across state. The findings emanated from this study are highly useful for academicians, researchers and policy makers in the state.