Building Local Institutions

Farmer Producer Company (FPC)

CARM-DAKSH has formed two Farmer Producer Companies as apex body at block level in its intervention area. These will focus on providing several services to farmers through APCs (Agriculture Production Clusters) and PGs (Producer Groups). APCs are further aggregated into FPC. Two FPCs formed are (a) Nawadagar Farmer Producer Company in Pali block of Korba district and (b) Matindai Farmer Producer Company in Pondi uproda block of Korba district.

The Board of Directors of the FPC are undergoing training to understand their role & responsibilities in the FPC as well as to understand the value proposition of the FPC.

Agriculture Production Clusters (APC)

CARM-DAKSH has formed four Agricultural Production Clusters (APC) with the objective of bringing together 2000 families for Intensive Farming at commercial scale in 2022. The APC helps in establishing linkages with market both for supply of input and for marketing farm produce. The APC has been formed by aggregating Participant Groups (PG) at Panchayat Level.

Around 46 meetings were conducted at the community level in 12 Panchayats to discuss the concept of PG and APC. These meetings were attended by 614 women participants. The interested people - around 152 women members - were organised into 10 Producer Groups (PG). The Project is supported by BRLF.

The PGs organise meetings at Panchayat level and plan with farmers to identify theirs needs which include inputs and trainings. The plans are collected at APC level to procure the inputs and organise training plan for the farmers. APC arranges for timely availability of inputs to the farmers through PG. It also facilitates marketing of produce.

We had introduced a pilot project on chilli cultivation with 100 farmers from 14 villages in Kharif and Rabi season of 2022-23 under the APC model. The results were promising with a total Production of around 4414 kg chilli fetching an income of Rs 161937. We now plan to expand the work with 2000 farmers in 40 villages with four vegetable crops.

Goat Centre

CARM-DAKSH has established a Goat Centre in Pali block of Korba district. The Centre provides training to Pashu Sakhi and Goat rearers on better management practices. It has also demonstrated the model of Goat shed and better practice to be followed. Goat centre provides various inputs to Pashu Sakhi to provide support to Goat rearers at the village level. Linkage with veterinary department, KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra) and private practitioners support this centre. Centre has space for providing training to 20 participants at a time. The idea is to develop the center as a resource for the goat rearers to seek guidance and support in dealing with any problems they face in goat rearing. The center will also ensure timely delivery of services by the Pashu Sakhis.

While the center is presently being managed by CARM-DAKSH, it will eventually be transferred to the FPC. The sustainability of the center has been worked out by treating it as an enterprise for the FPC. It will have the following revenue streams:

1. At a given point of time, the Goat centre will have 10 goats which will be reared using better management practices. The sale of these goats will generate revenue for the centre.

2. It will procure in bulk, feed and other inputs that it will supply to the Pashu Sakhi on a commission basis

3. The center will provide fee-based trainings to Goat rearers and staff of local NGOs