Farmers’ access to institutional support systems for value chain development of IARI variety of Paddy

Before reaching the consumers’ plate, agricultural produce passes through many stakeholders, which mainly includes primary producers or farmers, processors, wholesalers and retailers. While passing through these stakeholders, value addition of the produce is done to various degrees. The flow of the produce through these stakeholders, where at each node value addition is done is known as the value chain. Depending upon the nature of the end product, and its final consumer, there can be more than one value chain for a single commodity. Various institutions, both public and private, can play a vital role in providing the necessary supports for development of the value chain. The current study was conducted to find out the degree of institutional support accessed by the farmers for value chain development. The sample constitutes 80 farmers who were growing Pusa Basmati 1121. The results of the accessibility index show that in case of Pusa Basmati 1121, 52.5 per cent of the respondent had very low to medium level of accessibility. The findings show that a significant portion of farmers still lack the necessary institutional supports for value chain development.