ABSTRACT

The dependence on agriculture for livelihood is high among rural Indians. However, agriculture as a profession is declining due to the scattering of land holdings, lack of cost-effective inputs to farming, and handicaps in last-mile connectivity,. Here, comes into the picture the power of collective bargaining, reducing the input costs and getting better prices for the produce. This is being realized in the Bareilly district through a Farmer Produce Organisation (FPO) called the Bareilly Kisan Agro Producer Company Limited.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY

Farming is a source of income for millions of Indians, and over the time, due to various handicaps, it became unremunerative. The district of Bareilly was no different until 2016. The farmers here cultivate paddy, wheat, sugarcane, and vegetables and are also involved in animal husbandry.

The economic conditions of the farmers were weak, with various handicaps like transportation, small land holdings, lack of access to markets, and such. A survey conducted here found that the number of small and marginal tenant farmers is more than 80%, and they do not get agriculture input (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) on time. Even if it is available, it is not of good quality. They sometimes procured it from 15-20 km away from the village, and their time and money (rent) were lost. Thus, the cost of production increased, and selling prices became not remunerative.

Due to this, the farmers had to take the help of middlemen to buy agricultural inputs and sell the produce. In such scenarios, the middlemen kept most of the profits resulting in poorer income for farmers. To overcome such issues, the Farmer Produce Organisation (FPO), Bareilly Kisan Agro Producer Company Ltd, was incorporated on March 21, 2016, in collaboration with the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). It was registered under the Companies Act.

OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE CASE STUDY

The FPO, Bareilly Kisan Agro Producer Company Ltd, intends to eliminate middlemen and address the handicaps faced by the farmers. They organized meetings with the farmers to try understanding their needs, solve the problems of the farmer, create awareness about FPO, highlight the benefits of FPOs to the farmers, and so on.

Along with making the farmers aware of the new technology and ensuring timely availability of reliable, cheaper inputs and technical farming tools through FPO, farming needs to be more sustainable and remunerative. So, the idea was to collect the produce and make it profitable at a reasonable price from the market by grading and packaging.

KEY FEATURES

The FPO organized meetings, training exposure visits, capacity-building exercises, prepared action plans, and so on. Due to the proactive measures taken, the farmers got experience in the area of producer union, the results of which came positive.

By preparing a business plan, FPO established an agriculture inputs centre on November 5, 2016, for 50,000 rupees to enable the farmers in improving their production/productivity by providing reliable, affordable inputs and marketing the products. They also provided technical, managerial, and financial support for the farmers. The year-on-year progress can be observed in the table below.

Some of the individual success stories are the following –

1. Ishaq Ahmed, one of the shareholders of Bareilly Kisan Agro Producer Company Limited, said that FPO is changing farming. As a result, his cost of farming decreased as he was getting high-quality agriculture inputs cheaply and on time.
2. A farmer of Kyara Block and a member of FPO, Chandrapal, said that the awareness related to agriculture improved in the surrounding villages due to the FPO project. Moreover, production improved due to the adoption of new agricultural techniques. Leaving behind his traditional farming, he made a change by planting new crops like kale flower cultivation, mango orchards, and such.
3. Manuram, a member of the Ekta Krishak Club of Rahpura Karim Bux Panchayat, Bhojipura Block, and a shareholder of the FPO said that the farmers are getting the right advice and inputs related to agriculture from Bareilly Kisan Agro Producer Company Limited. Moreover, it is bought reasonably, so the farmers are getting facilities in one place.

IMPACT

The cost of cultivation came down from 900 to 700 rupees per acre. The selling price of farmers' produce increased from 2,200 to 2,700 rupees per acre. Increased income led to the improved nutritional intake of farmers, school enrollment of children, and access to health services.

The increase in farmers' income through FPO has led to their socio-economic development. They are steadily turning from producer to entrepreneur by focusing on food processing and profitable marketing. In addition, farmers have started horticulture along with organic farming of flowering vegetables. They started such activities by becoming aware through the FPO

As per the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the "Grade Response Action Plan" was prepared to ensure the National Capital Region’s (NCR’s) ambient air qualityand this has been implemented in all non-maintenance cities. Currently, two online continuous monitoring stations are operational for monitoring the ambient air quality of the city of Bareilly, the details of which are given below-

Some of the individual success stories are the following –

1. Online Continuous Monitoring Station Established in Residential Area of Rajendra Nagar, Bareilly: A monitoring station is operational on the premises of the UP Pollution Control Board’s regional office at Rajendranagar, Bareilly, since July 2022. It is connected to the servers of the Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Lucknow. Therefore, the ambient air quality of the residential area of Bareilly city is displayed at the national level. The average Air Quality Index(AQI)for August 2022 has been measured as 60.732, and it was covered under the satisfactory category.
2. Online Continuous Monitoring Station Established Near Commercial Area of Ayub Khan Chauraha: The monitoring station in the premises of GIC near Ayub Khan Chauraha, is operating since July 2022. THIS monitoring station is also connected to the servers of the Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Lucknow. The average AQI was measured as 55.68 as per the August 2022 data and it was covered under the Satisfactory category.

RESULTS

The air quality in Bareilly has been categorized as green (good) with an index value of 50. The prominent pollutents identified here are PM10 and PM2.5.