‘The decision to diversify into the business of agricultural inputs was taken to increase the cash rotation of FPCs’.
MahaFPC, the apex body of farmer producer companies (FPCs) in the state, has decided to try its hands at the business of input management, mainly fertilisers, this year. Yogesh Thorat, managing director of MahaFPC said they will be targeting around 50 FPCs to get into the business, starting the kharif season.
Since the start of the FPC movement, farmer-led companies have primarily been in the business of commodities. Throat said the decision to diversify into the business of agricultural inputs was taken to increase the cash rotation of FPCs and also to help their members get access to timely and quality seeds and fertilisers. “Our members are often left in the lurch due to unavailability of seeds or fertilisers. If the village-level FPCs can get into the business, then access will be easy,” he said.
Thorat said that MahaFPC had undertaken a survey among its members to understand the need on the ground level. At present, farmers buy inputs from registered outlets at the village level. However, timely access to inputs has been a major cause of concern for farmers. Also quality of inputs has also created concerns, as in case of seed failure, the farmer has to face major losses.
Till date, FPCs have mostly been involved in forward linkages, ie in helping farmers market their produce. This would be the first time that they are getting into the backward linkages by helping farmers grow better produce. “With better quality inputs, the overall quality of farm produce will improve and it will help farmers get better price,” he said.
At the state-level, MahaFPC will be obtaining the state-level dealer’s licence and subsequently appointing distributors at various levels. At the moment, 90 FPCs have obtained input licences in the state. Thorat said the state government has failed to accede to their request of providing subsidies to FPCs involved in seed production. Some FPCs have even moved the Bombay High Court, Thorat added. During a training programme conduced for FPCs over the weekend, Minister of State for Agriculture Sadashiv Khot had directed the Agriculture department to link agriculture assistants to the FPCs, to help farmers get access to quality inputs at the farm-gate level.