Catalysing Sustainable Development through Producers Collectives - 11 Case Studies from India’s Hinterlands  (English, Paperback, K. K. Tripathy)

Indian agriculture is heavily dependent upon small and marginal farmers referred to as smallholders. They face numerous difficulties in livelihood development and find it difficult to access markets and resources. Accumulated experience and research show that aggregation or collectivisation of producers in institutional arrangements, such as Cooperatives, Self-Help Groups, Farmers Association and Farmer Producers Companies, can enhance their income generating ability. It gives them a platform to voice their concerns where they can exercise greater control over resources, have better access to markets and technology, negotiate better prices and reduce the transaction costs. This book discusses the journey of eleven such producers’ collectives from ten states of India. The case studies are drawn from various regions and markets of India. They dovetail the success and the interventions of these enterprises, focusing on key strategies on how such models improve the lives and livelihoods in rural areas of India, particularly farmers and women. These cases are unique business models with a social conscience. In the final chapter, this book provides key challenges of producers’ collectives and presents a strategy for making them competitive and sustainable. The authors assert that the success of producers’ collectives depends largely on the way it is governed and managed. The book provides the necessary ‘theory-cum-practice’ based academic inputs and learnings to training institutions and field practitioners involved in agriculture and rural development, besides spreading awareness among other key stakeholders by adding to the body of knowledge on the work and achievements of producers’ collectives.