Skill gap analysis of member farmers of FPO: A study in south Dinajpur district of West Bengal

FPO movement has gained momentum in the recent years. Its number is steadily increasing and literature suggests how these collectives are attracting millions of small and marginal farmers. However, forming FPO is just the beginning, it needs to be strengthened so that it is enabled to run as a business entity. Though production plays an important role, post production factors also equally contribute to the success of an enterprise. Therefore, needed skills and capacity building is utmost important to fuel the vehicle of transformation efficiently. Four FPOs in South Dinajpur district which were running more than three years and having 400 members were selected purposively. Twenty farmers were selected randomly from each FPOs. Farmers were interviewed with semi structured interview schedule for studying skill gap and constraints. The topmost areas of skill gap among vegetable farmers were pest and disease management skill in vegetables (MWDS = 10.58), harvest and storage (MWDS = 7.28), labour management (MWDS = 7.04). For cereals crop farmers the topmost areas of training needs were identified as post-harvest (MWDS = 6.90), farm business and record keeping (MWDS = 6.84), pest and disease management (MWDS = 5.32) marketing (MWDS = 4.83). The topmost areas of training needs of fish farmers were reported as fish seed production & hatchery management skills (MWDS = 11.25),life fish handling and quality assessment skills (MWDS = 10.12), pond hazard management skills (MWDS = 9.92). The lack of technical direction and coordination has been found to be moderately severe by respondents. Poor credit facilities and the non-availability of custom hiring centres are some of the other constraints faced by the farmers. “Poor credit facility" is another limitation factor indicating members disappointment with the availability of credit. Some farmers were pleased with the company's payment mechanism, but not all of them.