Inspired by the incubation centres nurturing start-up ecosystems in India, Nashik-based Sahyadri Farmers Producer Company, along with other partners, is all set to launch the first-of-its-kind Farmers Producer Company (FPC) Incubation Centre.
Vilas Shinde, MD and Chairman of Sahyadri, said, “Considering the strengths of the partners, we are establishing India’s first FPC incubation centre focusing on horticulture crops. The incubation program will consist of physical and virtual incubation. FPCs will be conducting their activities from the respective regions. Hence, most of the programs will be virtual. However, periodically FPCs will participate in physical programs at the incubation centre where a few FPC representatives will be physically available.”
Shinde added that FPCs need to be nurtured like start-ups; hence, the need for an incubation centre. According to experts, currently, many FPCs are facing a lack of leadership, professional management, technical skills and purpose, lack of market access, low profitability, inadequate access to infrastructure, credit, and technology.
Azim Premji University’s report on FPCs released in March states that producer companies face several challenges such as a weak sense of ownership among producer shareholders, under-capitalisation, inadequate business skills, poor governance, and lack of an enabling ecosystem. “We found that these challenges are partly a result of incongruities in stakeholder imagination of the purpose of producer companies,” the report states.
To help FPCs face these challenges, Tata Strive, Digital Impact SQ, and the Maharashtra government have joined hands with Sahyadri to establish the FPC incubation centre. The centre will help FPCs achieve optimal revenue growth, turn profitable, and develop a strategic value chain strategy. The centre will also work with the FPCs in credit guarantee, management of HR support for two years, compliance services, technology, and digitisation support, capacity building, and business planning and strategy with financial management.
The Government of India, through the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), a registered society under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, is promoting Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) by mobilising farmers and helping them to register as companies. Currently, 7,374 producer companies are covering over 4.3 million small producers in the country. This number is expected to more than double over the next few years, covering almost 10 per cent of all agricultural households in India.