Diary of a Rural Manager!

GoI had issued a circular for Farmers producer organisations (FPOs) on 11th February 2014. As per circular, FPOs may be treated at par with cooperatives and other quasi- governmental institutions providing common service facilities to the farmers/users in Rashtriya Krishi vikas yojana (RKVY). Please check the circular on the government website .

Young Professional (YP) is a short-term work opportunity (three years) to experience development and gain exposure to government operations and policies. Panchayati Raj Department, Odisha is the agency in implementing National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) program delivery and interface in Odisha serving to the marginalized section of the population. While the government is always reluctant to share or de-valuate power to the community, NRLM has tried to build sustainable community institutions at the Panchayat level. YPs served either at the district or block administration level. In simpler words, YP is just another name of Management Trainee in a government agency doing the contractual job without any power. Why I joined Odisha Livelihood Mission?   One can't have the right to voice their disappointments unless one understands the functionality of the government. I have also considered the government as the biggest development agency in India. Hence, it is of utmos...

Progressing with the previous discussion of FPO: Public Policy & Value Chain Development , we are looking into credit accessibility of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). India is successful despite the government because of the entrepreneurship, energy, and ingenuity of the Indian people. Our smallholder farmers are not marginal recipients of charity but instead customer entrepreneurs. Even with the linking of small and marginal farmers to FPOs, the question of reliable and affordable sources of financing for the capital requirement of Infrastructure and operation always lingers for the farmers. There is always the issue of access to credit in the agrarian sector. There are many donor agencies like International foundations, Domestic Foundations, Business related CSR, and government schemes for financing credit to FPOs. But the search for such donors with big pockets for solving the problem is elusive and unsustainable way. Formal financial institutions (FIs) are war...