Attitude of farmers towards farmer producer organizations in Saurashtra region

Introduction

Agriculture stands as the backbone of Indian economy, historically contributing significantly to its GDP. This sector contributes approximately 16.00 per cent of the country's GDP in 2024-25 (Anon., 2024a) [2] . In 2024, about 46.10 per cent of the people in India were engaged in agriculture and allied activities directly. Among Indian farmers, 86.00 per cent of the farmers are small and marginal farmers (Anon., 2024b) [3] . FPO is a generic name, which means and includes farmerproducers' organization incorporated/ registered either under Part IXA of Companies Act or under Co-operative Societies Act of the concerned States or any other legal form and formed for the purpose of leveraging collectives through economies of scale in production and marketing of agricultural and allied sector (Anon., 2020) [1] . Agriculture continues to be the backbone of rural livelihoods in India, yet small and marginal farmers often face numerous challenges such as low bargaining power, lack of market access, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to quality inputs and credit. To address these issues, the government of India has promoted FPOs as a means to empower farmers by enabling collective action, improving income and ensuring sustainable agriculture. FPOs have the potential to transform agricultural practices and rural economies, their success heavily depends on how farmers perceive and respond to them. Understanding farmers' attitude towards FPOs is crucial for evaluating the performance of these organizations and for formulating policies that encourage broader participation.

Objective

A. To study the attitude of farmers towards Farmer

Producer Organizations B. Association between selected characteristics of the farmers and their attitude towards Farmer Producer Organizations

Methodology

The study was conducted in the Junagadh and Rajkot districts of Saurashtra region, Gujarat. In the present investigation, an ex-post facto research design was adopted to suit the objectives and scope of the study. Ex-post facto design refers to a systematic empirical approach in which the researcher has no direct control over the independent variables, as these variables occur naturally or cannot be manipulated (Kerlinger, 1969) [8] .

The dependent variables undertaken in this study was attitude of farmers towards farmer producer organizations. It was measured with standardized scale developed by Dechamma et al. (2020) [5] . The independent variables were measured by using suitable scales and procedures adopted by various researchers with suitable modifications. The interview schedule was prepared in Gujarati language in www.extensionjournal.com light of the objectives of the study and was pre-tested. Multistage sampling was used for this study. Two districts viz., Junagadh and Rajkot of Saurashtra region were purposively selected for the study. Because, these two districts are nearby to the researcher hence facilitating easiness in the process of data collection. Total five FPOs were selected from each of selected district by simple random sampling method. Which were actively working in selected districts. A total of ten FPOs were selected for the study. Eighteen members were selected randomly from each selected FPO. Thus, total of 180 respondents were selected randomly from ten FPOs of two districts for the study. The data of this study were collected by arranging personal interview with all 180 respondents. The collected data were classified, tabulated and analysed in order to make the findings meaningful. The statistical measures such as mean, percentage, standard deviation, arbitrary method and coefficient of correlation were used in the study.

Results and Discussion

A. Attitude of farmers towards Farmer Producer Organizations Attitude is the degree of positive or negative affect associated with some psychological object, person, ideas, institutions or a phenomenon. It was operationally defined as the degree of positive or negative feeling of members towards FPOs. Attitude of the farmers towards Farmer Producer Organizations under investigation is given in Table 1 and illustrated in Figure 1. The distribution of respondents according to their attitude towards FPOs and indicated that the more than two-fifth (45.00%) of the respondents held a moderately favourable attitude, followed by 36.11 per cent of the respondents, who had neutral attitude towards FPOs. A smaller proportion (11.67%) of the respondents showed a highly favourable attitude, while 06.66 per cent of them were having moderately unfavourable attitude and only 00.56 per cent of them were having highly unfavourable attitude towards FPOs.

It can be concluded that vast majority (81.11%) of respondents held a moderately favourable to neutral attitude toward FPOs, indicating that the vast majority perceive it as a positive and acceptable to FPOs.

The possible reason for having a moderately favourable attitude towards FPOs may be due to the increasing awareness among farmers about the benefits of collective action such as improved access to quality inputs, better bargaining power and enhanced marketing opportunities.

Many respondents might have experienced some positive outcomes through their association with FPOs, which could have encouraged them to develop a favourable attitude. Their interaction with extension personnel and participation in training programmes may also have contributed to building confidence in the functioning of FPOs. Furthermore, government support and promotional activities of FPOs in nearby areas may have positively influenced the respondent's outlook. This study is in line with Prajapati et al. (2023) [10] , Sahu (2024) [11] , Sajina (2024) [12] and Ghosh et al. (2025) [6] .

B. Association between selected characteristics of the farmers and their attitude towards Farmer Producer Organizations

In order to ascertain the relationship between the effectiveness (dependent variable) of the farmers and their selected characteristics (independent variables), the coefficient of correlation ('r') were calculated. The empirical hypotheses were stated for testing the relationship and its significance of correlation are given in Decision making ability 0.171 * * = significant at 5% level, ** = significant at 1% level, NS = nonsignificant

1) Age and Attitude

Age was found to be had negative and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This indicates a statistically significant inverse relationship between age and attitude. This implies that as an age of respondents increases, the attitude towards FPOs tends to decline among farmers.

2) Education and Attitude

Education was found to be had positive and highly significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This implies that as the level of education among respondents increases, their attitude towards FPOs becomes more favourable. These findings are in agreement with the results reported by Singh et al. (2023) [13] .

3) Experience in Farming and Attitude

Experience in farming was found to be had negative and nonsignificant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs, indicating a very weak relationship between experience in farming and attitude. These findings are in agreement with the results reported by Dechamma (2020) [4] and Veera (2023) [14] .

4) Annual Income and Attitude

Annual income was found to be had positive and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This suggest that the farmers with higher income may develop a more favourable attitude towards FPOs. These findings are in agreement with the observations of Jadhav (2018) [7] and Ghosh et al. (2025) [6] .

5) Size of Land Holding and Attitude

Size of land holding was found to be had positive and nonsignificant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This implies that the size of landholding does not have a significant influence on the attitude of respondents towards FPOs. These findings are in agreement with the observations of Jadhav (2018) [7] , Dechamma (2020) [4] , Singh et al. (2023) [13] and Mall and Tripathi (2025) [9] .

6) Participation in Activities of FPO and Attitude

Participation in activities of FPO was found to be had positive and highly significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This implies that respondents who actively participate in the activities of FPOs tend to develop a more favourable attitude towards them. These findings are in agreement with the observations of Dechamma (2020) [4] .

7) Extension Contact and Attitude

Extension contact was found to be had positive and highly significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This implies that respondents who have higher extension contact tend to develop a more favourable attitude towards FPOs. Frequent interaction with extension personnel provides farmers with better access to information, guidance and support related to the objectives, benefits and functioning of FPOs. These findings are in agreement with the observations of Veera (2023) [14] .

8) Source of Information and Attitude

Source of information was found to be had positive and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This indicate that respondents who have greater access to various sources of information tend to develop a more favourable attitude towards FPOs.

9) Economic Motivation and Attitude

Economic motivation showed a positive and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This indicates that respondents with higher economic motivation are more likely to have a favourable attitude towards FPOs. These findings are supported by the observations of Dechamma (2020) [4] and Veera (2023) [14] .

10) Risk Orientation and Attitude

Risk orientation was found to be had positive and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This indicates that respondents with a higher level of risk orientation are more likely to have a favourable attitude towards FPOs. These findings are supported by the research conducted by Dechamma (2020) [4] and Mall and Tripathi (2025) [9] .

11) Innovativeness and Attitude

Innovativeness was found to be had positive and highly significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This suggests that respondents with a higher level of innovativeness tend to have a more favourable attitude towards FPOs. These findings are supported by the research conducted by Veera (2023) [14] .

12) Professional Ethics and Attitude

Professional ethics was found to be had positive and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards FPOs. This suggests that respondents who possess higher professional ethics tend to develop a more favourable attitude towards FPOs.

13) Decision Making Ability and Attitude

Decision making ability was found to be had positive and significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards www.extensionjournal.com FPOs. This suggests that respondents with better decision making ability tend to have a more favourable attitude towards FPOs. These findings are supported by the research conducted by Dechamma (2020) [4] and Ghosh et al. (2025) [6] .

Conclusion

It can be concluded that vast majority (81.11%) of respondents held a moderately favourable to neutral attitude toward FPOs, indicating that the vast majority perceive it as a positive and acceptable to FPOs. The selected profile characteristics viz., education, participation in activities of FPO, extension contact and innovativeness had positive and highly significant relationship with their attitude towards FPOs. Whereas, annual income, source of information, economic motivation, risk orientation, professional ethics and decision-making ability had positive and significant relationship with their attitude towards FPOs. Age has negative and significant, whereas experience in farming and size of land holding had non-significant relationship with their attitude towards FPOs.

References

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