MANAGE FPO Academy – Concept Note

The focus of the government policies in the recent past has been on enhancing farmers income through a flagship program of “Doubling of Farmers Income by 2022”. One of the main strategies suggested in this document is aggregation of farmers into Farmer Producer Organizations. This tool of aggregation is a solution for most of the problems faced by small and marginal farmers. Since 2002, around 7000 FPOs have been promoted by various agencies. Based on the success of this model in the country, Govt. of India has decided to promote 10000 FPOs over next five years. It is estimated that during the promotion and implementation of 10,000 farmer-organisations would require capacity building of nearly 46 lakhs stakeholders covering Board of Directors, CEOs, Bankers, CBBOs, officers from agriculture and line departments, resources from NGO, Universities, Cooperative organizations, apex institutes dealing with agriculture and other institutes including stakeholders in the private sector. In order to address this huge challenge of aggregating farmers, MANAGE proposes to setup an Academy with focus on capacity building and of different FPO stakeholders and also to conduct research studies, policy advocacy and other related aspects to help government achieve the ambitious target of creating 10000 farmer-organisations over next five years.

Scope of the Academy

The major responsibilities of the FPO Academy will, inter alia, cover –

1. Capacity building of different stakeholders covering Board of Directors, CEOs, Bankers, CBBOs, officers from agriculture and line departments, recourses from NGO, Universities and other institutes included private sector.
2. Undertake research on different aspects of promotion, formulation and strengthening of farmer-organisations
3. Policy advocacy to the government based on the findings of research study and feedback received from the field.
4. Evolving different methodology/ models to facilitate FPOs linking with emerging marketing channels and export markets
5. Documentation and dissemination of success stories to different stakeholders. Academy will also imbibe good practices of FPOs in other countries and act as a repository of international knowledge
6. Provide consultancy in different areas of farmer producer organisation

Structure of the Academy

The farmer-producer organisations will have to work in an environment having participation of wide range of players covering central and state governments, departments, universities, NGO and corporates. Accordingly, the MANAGE-FPO Academy is envisaged to be implemented in Public Private Partnership mode. The responsibility to execute different activities will be vested with Centre for National Resource Management, Monitoring and Evaluation of Programs and Plans. This centre will work in collaboration with nine other academic centres operating in MANAGE having expertise in different areas. The Academy will partner with different public and private institutes for execution of different activities of the Academy, mainly capacity building of different stakeholders. The Academy will also seek association of different private institutes as Knowledge Partners covering agribusiness companies, corporates, NGOs, state level federations, etc.

MANAGE FPO Academy Knowledge Partners

Role of different Partner Institutes

Different institutes operating under public and private sectors coupled with centres established at MANAGE will work in partnership to implement different activities visualised for the academy. The role of different institutes is furnished below –

1. M&E Centre at MANAGE – Lead Centre responsible for overall coordination with different agencies and is responsible for implementation of various activities as envisaged under the fold of the Academy
2. MANAGE Academic Centres – Different Centres of MANAGE will participate as partners as per their expertise and support lead centre to cater to the subject specific needs of different stakeholders
3. Private Players – Private players can participate in different activities of the Academy as Knowledge Partners. There will not be any financial commitments and if funds are involved, case specific arrangement will be made by taking into consideration the mutual agreement of all the concerned partners. Private players can participate purely to share their knowledge and to facilitate the process of creation and development of farmer-organisations.
4. Other relevant Institutes working in the domain of FPO

The Academy in long run will continue the activities in tune with any policy changes by Govt. of India. The academy will try to address issues related to formulation and registration of FPOs, legal issues and issues related to sustainability of farmer-organisations. For wider and comprehensive coverage of different aspects of FPOs, the efforts of the Academy will coordinate with other public and private institutes.

For details please contact:

Dr. P. Chandra Shekara
Director General
Email: dgmanage@manage.gov.in

Dr.K.C.Gummagolmath
Director (M&E)
Email: kcgum@manage.gov.in