Prof. N. J. Salunke,Prof. L. C. Sontakke ,Dr. Y. T. Pawar 

ABSTRACT

This paper presents cases on collective marketing done by farmers’ organizations, focusing on benefits it has provided to its participation farmers. Emphasis is given on identifying the success factors of various models implemented by producer companies across the state of Maharashtra. It was found that Producer companies have made agriculture more remunerative for small farmers to sustain in agriculture. Traditionally farmers were not the real beneficiaries of agriculture value chain. The middlemen used to take away the maximum out of it. Therefore, to integrate farmers into the value chain was a big challenge. Various institutional models were implemented but they lacked the essence of doing business on commercial lines. Agricultural Producers Companies (APC) model provided the necessary structure to the farmers to do business in a collective organization with system similar to that of private company. Considering the diverse pattern of agriculture in India, this model has adopted variations according to various factors viz. produce, geography, participants, regulations etc. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate various producer companies to identify the critical factors in their eco system. Keywords: agricultural producer companies, collective marketing, farmers’ group.