Supply chain models and cooperatives: providing competitive edge to Indian agriculture and unorganised retail

Competition and collaboration are not mutually exclusive. In an effective supply chain they coexist. Indian agriculture is not a chain of established business firms but a primitive and incoherent aggregation of a large number of farmers, commission agents, traders, government agencies, cooperatives and a small number of firms and corporate bodies. The actors generally tend to exploit the rest of the supply chain for short term gains rather than collaborating for a long term win-win strategy. The need is to analyse every link in the vertical chain of production, storage, processing, logistics and marketing and to bring about a very intensive collaboration among the actors so as to maximise value addition on the one hand and cost efficiency on the other. The seeds and planting material, the package of practices, research and extension, information network, quality control, regulations, management, credit, storage and processing, marketing and organisations involved will have to receive close attention from all the stakeholders. Farmers have to view themselves as links in the supply chains rather than mere commodity producers. Stronger links between businesses throughout the supply chain create the critical mass, reliability, product consistency and quality demanded by customers. It is a challenge of education, coordination and management. It is the quintessence of integrated development. Cutting into the middle functions is a natural consequence of the approach as the retailers establish global sources network to guarantee supplies to satisfy the demands of the customer. This paper proposes some of the supply chains and tailors them accordingly for the upgradation of Indian farmers and unorganized retailers. In this paper we considered the way in which new forms of global coordination affect the possibilities for upgrading agricultural producers and traders in India. It addresses how different forms of insertion in the global economy facilitate or obstruct the potential for the acquisition of capabilities and market access, and the policy frameworks which might enhance upgrading opportunities for Indian farmers and retailers.