Samunnati, one of India’s largest agri enterprises, will set up a digital transformation platform for farmer producer organisations (FPOs) as part of its vision of “making the markets work for small-holder farmers”.
Making the announcement on the 10th anniversary of the company’s launch, its founder and CEO Anilkumar SG told a Light House FPO Conclave 2023 near Hyderabad that the platform — FPOnext.com — will be launched on August 15. “The platform will do seven things to help FPOs transform digitally,” he said.
The platform will reduce “information asymmetry”, manage operations digitally, help access credit online, enable procuring quality inputs and services digitally and sell produce online transparently across a wide range of markets, take finished produces directly to consumers and connect local micro-entrepreneurs to the ecosystem to help FPOs in their digital journey.
During the conclave Samunnati released “State of the sector report - Farmer Producer Organisations in India”. This is the third such report from the organisation. The first two reports traced the development of the FPOs and their ecosystem. This report traces the business enterprise of farmers and provides case studies of FPOs and their successful business.
It dwells on the aggregation and preset model that have worked with a primary focus on capacity building and how it has beneficial. It also deals with the gender-specific approach of FPOs and modifications for equity and equality.
Value addition
Addressing the conclave, Shaik N Meera, Director, ICAR ATARI, said FPOs should look out for value addition with digital innovation and work on an integrated digital strategy.
Shireesh Joshi, Chief Business Office and President, Open Network for Digital Commerce, said 400 FPOs had joined the network and it will soon launch digital financial services.
The conclave discussed “access to finance” paradox, “opening FPO mindset to agtech innovations”, “access to markets-opportunities and new developments” and “climate smart practices and regenerative agriculture”.
All these discussions were centred around how FPOs could benefit and the problems they face in accessing these.
The writer was at the conclave in Chegur, Telangana, on the invitation of Samunnati