The core problem is the severe and worsening economic distress faced by farmers in India, specifically in the Satara and Mann regions. This distress is characterised by declining incomes despite high employment in agriculture, caused by a combination of structural, infrastructural, informational, and environmental challenges. Farmers are trapped in a cycle of low productivity, low-value sales, and environmental degradation, preventing them from earning a sustainable livelihood.
The proposed solution is to establish a Farmer Producer Company (FPC) to organise smallholder farmers into a single, powerful collective. This structure is designed to address the multitude of challenges by leveraging economies of scale, improving market access, and ensuring long-term sustainability.
- Farmer organisation & collective power:
- Organise farmers into a shareholding company where they are owners and receive dividends from profits.
- Increase market power to demand higher prices for their produce and purchase inputs (seeds, fertiliser) in bulk at lower costs.
- Require members to sell their produce exclusively to the Company to ensure supply.
- Price stability & market access:
- Purchase produce from members at a Minimum Guaranteed Price to provide income stability.
- First satisfy local demand through company-owned stores and weekly markets.
- Sell surplus produce to external markets in Maharashtra and beyond, both directly and by partnering with existing traders.
- Value addition & infrastructure:
- Invest in local storage, packaging, and processing facilities to reduce waste and add value to raw produce.
- Develop a branded product line (e.g., with the Mann Deshi Kisan Company logo) to capture more margin.
- Plan for future expansion into e-commerce and franchise stores in urban markets.
- Data-driven demand forecasting:
- Develop a technology-based model to provide accurate market price data and future demand forecasts.
- Use this data to advise farmers on what and how much to plant, moving them away from reliance on past performance or word-of-mouth.
- Production planning support:
- Provide farmers with tools and frameworks to create financial plans, input schedules, harvest calendars, and yield tracking mechanisms to improve farm efficiency and effectiveness.
- Mandatory ecological restoration:
- Tree-planting scheme: Require each member household to plant and maintain 10 trees per month (120/year) on their land or company-designated land to improve soil and water retention.
- Water-management scheme: Implement strict communal water usage guidelines with aggressive targets to restore the local water table.
- Financial sustainability & growth:
- Reinvest revenues into expanding services, processing capacity, and member outreach.
- Disburse remaining profits as dividends to member farmers, ensuring they have a direct financial stake in the Company’s success.
- Leverage the ecological restoration schemes to attract funding and favorable lending terms from CSR programmes and financial institutions.