Socio-personal and economic Profile of Members on the impact of Farmer Producer Organisations in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh

Introduction

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have become an important institutional arrangement for improving the socioeconomics of farmers by enabling them to act collectively, through better market access and resource utilization. The formation of FPOs has facilitated farmers to pool their resources together to improve their bargaining power, to lower transaction costs, to help them avail of agricultural inputs, technical support, credit facilities and marketing opportunities more effectively. FPOs are being encouraged in India, especially by small and marginal farmers, to boost the productivity of their farms and their income, while also contributing to sustainable agricultural development. These organisations are dependent to a great extent on the participation, decision making and use of services of their members which is dependent on their characteristics. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the profile of the members of the FPOs to come up with interventions and improve the performance of the FPOs. In this background the present study was conducted to analyse the profile characteristics of the FPO members in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh.

Objective:

The specific objective is to study the profile of members of Farmer Producer Organisation of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh (of selected FPO's in selected mandals in the district).

Research Methodology

In this study an ex post facto research design was adopted and the study area is Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. With the availability of operational Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and the relevance to the study objectives, three mandals namely Kanchikacharla, Veerulapadu and Chandarlapadu were purposively selected. A total of 120 members were selected from the 40 selected FPO members from each FPO by simple random sampling. Primary data were collected using the structured interview schedule that was developed with consultation from experts and pre-tested. Selected socio-economic and behavioural characteristics of the respondents were also collected such as age, education, annual income, land holding size, occupation, social participation, extension contact, economic motivation, cosmopoliteness and risk preference. Data was gathered by personal interviews and then coded, classified and tabulated for analysis. The descriptive statistics tools used to interpret the profile characteristics of the FPO members were frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.

Results and Discussions 1. Age:

The age distribution of the members of the farmer producer organisation of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh clearly shows that the majority of the members of the farmer producer organisations (53.33%) belong to the middle-aged group (35-50 years) and the number of young members www.extensionjournal.com (below 35 years) is also quite large (45.83%). A small percentage of participants (0.84%) was more than 50 years old. The results suggest that the people of the FPO belong mostly to economically active and productive age. The middle age farmer group is more represented as they have more involvement in farm decision making, resource management, and participation in collective activities like FPOs. The age group can also have a mix of farming experience and receptivity to institutional innovations, which is likely to make them more likely to be involved in producer organisations. The presence of a large number of young farmers also indicates a growing interest among the younger generation in collective farming activities, market linkages and income generation activities of FPOs. The very low participation of older farmers may be due to their relatively lower inclination towards organisational activities and reduced involvement in adopting new institutional arrangements. Overall, the results indicated that the members of the FPOs are those in the most economically productive age, which could be beneficial for the organisation's growth and sustainability. The current findings are consistent with the ones that were reported by Chopade (2019) [3] , Deepa Singh et al. (2019) [5] , S. Dechamma et al. (2020) [13] and T. Mahesh Babu et al. (2021) [17] , who reported a higher proportion of middle-aged farmers in the farmer-based organisations.

Education

The educational profile of the respondents showed the members of the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Krishna District had relatively high levels of formal education. The largest educational category of the respondents was college education, with 34.16 per cent having attended this level of education. Those who completed secondary education (20.83%) and higher secondary (18.34%) education were the next groups of respondents. A smaller percentage of respondents had studied up to middle school (10.00%) and primary school (3.34%), while 13.34% of the respondents were illiterate. The results indicated that there were a significant number of FPO members who had moderate to high level of formal education. The high proportion of people with higher education suggests that people with higher education are likely to be more likely to join collective institutions like FPOs. FPO education may help in understanding objectives, functions and benefits of FPOs. Members with a higher level of education tend to have greater ability in gaining access to information, in being able to participate in organisational activities, in understanding market-related opportunities as well as in collective decision-making processes. As a result, they are likely to be more motivated to get involved in FPO activities. The significant secondary and higher secondary education level of the respondents also suggests that the FPO members have a reasonably good educational base. This may have been influenced by the number of educational institutions found within and around the study area as well as the growing awareness of the rural household of the importance of education. Meanwhile, one area of uneducated members indicates the inclusive character of FPOs which offer opportunity to participate at varying levels of education. The results are corroborated with those of Mukherjee et al. (2022) [9] who found that educated farmers were over-represented in the farmer-based collective organisations.

Annual Income

The distribution of respondents by their annual income level showed that majority of the respondents were in the medium income group (81.67%) between ₹67,937 and ₹3,38,562 per annum. A smaller proportion of respondents was in the highincome category (10.83%) with an annual income higher than ₹3, 38,562 and only 7.50 per cent respondents were in the low-income category with an annual income of less than ₹67,937. The overwhelming majority of medium and highincome members could be explained partly by the economic advantages that they gain from membership of FPOs, which include better access to inputs, credit and market opportunities. The majority of the respondents were in medium income category, showing that the membership base of farmers participating in the study area is mainly comprised of farmers with moderate income. These farmers might think that group entities such as FPOs can offer them better access to agricultural inputs and technical information, credit facilities, and agricultural markets. The high percentage of respondents in the high-income category also suggests that FPO membership is not limited to farmers from the economically weaker sections but include farmers who want to improve the profit of their farms and build market linkages through FPOs. The low percentage of respondents in the lowincome group could be due to the fact that the potential of the FPOs to involve farmers with adequate resources to join the organisation and avail the services provided by the organisation. The overall economic profile is reasonably stable among the members of the selected FPOs. The results are similar to those of Chopade (2019) [3] and T. Mahesh Babu et al. (2021) [17] who found that the majority of farmers in the farmer-based organisations were medium-income farmers.

Land Holding

The distribution of respondents by land size showed that the highest land holding size were in the semi-medium category (2.01-4.00 ha) with 32.50% FPO members. This was followed by small farmers at 24.17 per cent, and marginal farmers and medium farmers each having 20.83 per cent of the respondents. The minority of respondents, 1.67 per cent, had large land holdings. It can be inferred from the findings that the study area mainly has a lot of farmers who belong to marginal, small and semi-medium land holding category that are organised under the Farmer Producer Organisations. This is indicative of smallholder farming largely prevailing in the region and the importance of collective institutions like FPOs for small farmers. Small farmers may have difficulties in obtaining quality input, institutional credit, technology, and in accessing remunerative markets. Thus, joining FPOs could be a way to overcome these limitations by doing collective market access, procurement, and aggregation of produce. The relative proportion of large farmers indicates that a majority of the FPO members are small and medium scale farmers who may benefit more from collective action, from economic and operational perspectives. The observed pattern of land ownership can also reflect the progressive fragmentation of land holdings over the generations, with more small-scale farms in rural areas. The results are consistent with the study by Deepa Singh et al. (2019) [5] and B. H. Manaswi et al. (2020) [2] who observed that the farmerwww.extensionjournal.com based collective organisations were represented by higher number of the marginal/small/semi-small farmers.

Occupation

The occupational profile of the respondents showed that agriculture was still the main occupation for all the respondents whether as a sole occupation or as an allied occupation to other other livelihoods. Of the respondents 30.00 per cent solely relied on agriculture for living. Agriculture combined with livestock rearing (23.34%) was the largest subsidiary occupation followed by agriculture and business (13.34%) and agriculture and service (11.67%) while agriculture combined with poultry and agri-allied enterprises recorded 10.84% each. The results show that the livelihood activities of the FPO members have started to diversify with a significant portion of the members having engaged themselves in other livelihood activities other than farming. The integration of agriculture with livestock, poultry, agri-allied enterprises, business activities and service occupations implies multiple income sources at the household level. Diversification can help to create more resilient farm household economies, less reliance on one enterprise, and increase income stability. High agriculture and livestock farming populations forming the respondents highlight the importance of integrated farming systems amongst the FPO members. Agriculture and diversified farming enterprises can be integrated to supplement yearround agricultural production for income and job generation. The occupational mix observed in the study, therefore, suggests that members of FPOs have mixed livelihoods, which can help to enhance economic sustainability and risk management. The results align with that of Chopade (2019) [3] and Deepa Singh et al. (2019) [5] who also reported diversified occupational pattern among the members of farmer-based organisations.

Social Participation:

The respondents who were categorized according to their social participation gave the following distribution: 70.00% were in the medium social participation category, 18.33% in the low social participation and 11.67% in the high social participation categories. The mean score for social participation was 2.72 (SD 1.26) which constituted a moderate level of involvement of the majority of respondents in FPO. A high proportion of the respondents were found in the medium level of social participation category, indicating that FPO members have a reasonably high level of engagement with the formal and informal institutions in their communities. People involved in collective organisations will need to communicate, cooperate and engage with other organisations and local agencies and development agencies regularly. Such interactions could play a role in building up social networks and in sharing information for agricultural and organisational purposes. The lower number of respondents reporting high social participation indicates that although members are actively involved in their community, not many take on high involvement roles across multiple organisations or leadership positions. In general, the study indicated that the respondents' social connectedness was satisfactory, and that this is a prerequisite factor for the successful operation of the Farmer Producer Organisations and for members to act collectively. The results are consistent with the others reported by Ahire and Kapse (2017) [1] , Chopade (2019), Deepa Singh et al. (2019) [5] , S. Dechamma et al. (2020) [13] , T. Mahesh Babu et al. (2021) [17] who also found that medium level of social participation among members of farmer-based organisations

Extension Contact

The distribution of respondents by level of extension contact showed that 42.50 per cent were from medium category, 29.17 per cent were in the high contact category and 28.33 per cent were in the low contact category respectively. The mean extension contact score was 4.51 and the standard deviation was 2.50, which means that majority of the respondents had moderate to high level of contact with extension personnel and agricultural service providers. Most of the FPO membership consisted of medium and high extension contact, indicating that the respondents had fairly good access to agricultural information and technical assistance. Extension interactions are important to increase farmers' knowledge of better production methods, government schemes, better management of inputs, and market opportunities. Extension contacts, therefore, can help with better decision making and with good uptake of recommended farming practices. The observed pattern might also be linked with the institutional support mechanisms in the form of Farmer Producer Organisations. FPOs are often used to arrange training programmes, capacity building programmes, demonstrations and discussions with agricultural experts. These can increase the members' access to agricultural knowledge and advisory services and provide a wider opportunity for interaction with extension agencies. The relatively low number of respondents with low contact with extension shows that a part of the members has limited opportunities to interact or receive information from extension systems, which means that efforts to increase outreach and information dissemination to all FPO members are still needed. The results correspond to those of Chopade (2019) [3] , Deepa Singh et al. (2019) [5] , S. Dechamma et al. (2020) [13] and T. Mahesh Babu et al. (2021) [17] who also reported medium to high level of extension contact among the members of the farmer-based organisation.

Economic Motivation

The economic motivation of respondents showed that the majority (74.17%) were in the medium category, the others were 19.17 per cent in the high category and 6.67 per cent in the low category. Overall, the mean economic motivation score was 20.85 (SD = 2.00) and most of the respondents had moderate to high orientation towards economic improvement and financial advancement. The majority of the respondents had medium and high economic motivations, indicating the respondents were generally more motivated to increase their economic well-being through agricultural and allied activities. Higher economic motivation of farmers encourages them to take risks on new opportunities that improve farm productivity, minimize production cost and maximize farm return from agricultural activities. So, such people are more inclined to look for information, implement better practices and join in together on collective efforts to improve their economic performance. Economic motivations exhibited by FPO members could be correlated with the opportunities for economic action available in the FPO. www.extensionjournal.com Farmer Producer Organisations can offer farmers access to services like input access, market linkage, capacity building programme, and others which can lead to better farm profitability. Economically driven farmers, therefore, could consider the membership of the FPO as a way to enhance their income generation potential and the viability of their farm businesses. The relatively small percentage of those with low economic motivation suggests that the majority of the members had a positive attitude towards economic growth and enterprise building, which is crucial for the effective functioning and sustainability of a Farmer Producer Organisation. The findings are consistent with that of Ahire and Kapse (2017) [1] , Chopade (2019) [3] and S. Dechamma et al. (2020) [13] who also found that the economic motivation of the members of farmer-based organisations was medium to high.

Cosmopoliteness

The distribution of respondents in terms of their level of cosmopoliteness revealed that majority (60.00%) was in the medium category, 34.17 per cent of the respondents were in the high category, and 5.83 per cent of the respondents were in the low category. The mean cosmopoliteness score was 9.20, and the standard deviation was 2.41, which means that most respondents had moderate to high cosmopoliteness scores: scores in the range of 7 to 12 indicate moderate to high cosmopoliteness. A large percentage of FPO members participated in more than just a single village, and were connected to outside resources of information, services and market opportunities, the prevalence of medium and high levels of cosmopoliteness indicate. This exposure can increase farmers' knowledge about better farming techniques, institutional services and new economic opportunities. The more cosmopolitan farmers tend to be more receptive to information from a variety of sources and to have linkages to other organisations that can provide information on agricultural and economic development. In the case of FPOs, a higher cosmopoliteness could be conducive to more involvement in training courses, market activities, visits to different places of interest, and engagement with extension and other actors. This orientation can enhance members' capacity to tap into information and effectively use FPO services. The low level of cosmopoliteness among the respondents suggests that a small proportion of members were relatively closed to their local social world. Overall, the results indicate that FPO members had a moderate level of external orientation, which is beneficial for the proper operation of the collective organisations and the use of new opportunities. The results are consistent with what was found by Sakthi Parthiban et al. (2015) [14] , Chopade (2019) [3] , and T. Mahesh Babu et al. (2021) [17] that medium to high cosmopoliteness was found among the members of farmerbased organisations.

Risk Preference

On the level of risk preference, most of the respondents (50.83%) were in the medium risk level with 25.83 per cent and 23.33 per cent in low and high risk levels respectively. The mean risk preference score was 13.50 and standard deviation of 1.39, reflecting the fact that majority of the respondents were of moderate risk-taking attitude for agricultural activities. The high percentage of respondents in medium risk preference category indicated that FPO members were relatively hesitant but at the same time, they were amenable to the use of new technologies, practices and enterprise opportunities. Moderately risk-oriented farmers may be willing to consider innovations once they have assessed how they can benefit and assessed the risks. This behavior is especially significant in agriculture, where production and market conditions are often affected by climatic, biological and economic factors. A significant percentage of the respondents were in the high-risk preference group, suggesting that a part of the members was more open to the adoption of new farming practices and income-generating activities. Farmer Producer Organisations can enhance risk bearing capacity through information, training programmes, collective decision making and better market linkages. These institutional support mechanisms can help alleviate uncertainty and motivate farmers to adopt innovations that can improve farm productivity and profitability. The relatively small percentage of people with low-risk preference, indicates a small number of respondents who were not willing to take part in risky activities. In general, the results suggest that the members of the FPO had a good score on risk orientation which can help them to embrace the new technologies and engage in market-oriented farming practices. The results are in line with previous research that found that most farmers in farmer-based organisations were at medium risk preference.

Relationship between the profiles of respondents with their impact. 1. Age with Impact of FPO

Age could not establish any relation with the impact of Farmer Producer Organization. On the basis of the above it may be concluded that there is no correlation between age and the impact of the farmer Producer Organization. The same results are obtained from the works of Kalsariya et al., (2015) [8] , Sharma and Badodiya (2016) [15] , Jyothi Swaroop (2016) and Chopade (2019) [3,7] .

Education with Impact of FPO

The correlation with Farmer Producer Organization was determined to be positive and it was significant at 0.05 level of significance. As many respondents of the Farmer Producer Organization are educated due to the availability of the educational institutions around them, many of the respondents were able to understand the good results and the trainings are found to be very effective. Hence, education could establish a positive relation with the impact of the Farmer Producer Organization on the respondents. Jyothi Swaroop (2016) [7] , Padiyar (2017) [11] and Chopade (2019) [3] also reported similar findings.

Annual Income with Impact of FPO

The annual income was found to be positively significant with the Farmer Producer Organization. The respondents could be able to identify the increment in their income after joining the Farmer Producer Organization. The effect of the activities of the Farmer Producer Organisation with regards to the annual incomes and annual savings of the farmers was observed to be incremental and effective. This is the main reason for the respondents joining Farmer Producer Organization. Hence, Annual Income could establish a www.extensionjournal.com positive relation with the impact of Farmer Producer Organization on the respondents. Sharma and Badodiya (2016) [15] , Nargawe (2017) [10] , Chopade (2019) [3] reported some similar findings.

Land Holding with Impact of FPO

Land Holding was found to be positively significant with the Farmer Producer Organization. Due to their new farming systems in their lands as suggested by the Farmer Producer Organization, the productivity of the lands has also increased. Therefore, it is clear from the result that Land holding could be the favourable and positive relation with impact of Farmer Producer Organization. The same results have been found by Nargawe (2017) [10] , Supe (2017) [16] , Chopade (2019) [3] .

Occupation with Impact of FPO

Occupational status was observed to have a positive significance with the Farmer Producer Organization. Results of the Study indicated that the Respondents' disbursement of loan for Livestock and poultry had made their occupation levels improve after joining the Farmer Producer Organization (FPO). The Farmer Producer Organization is found to be extending the scope for the subsidiary occupations even for their families and also to the unit. Thus, it can be concluded that the occupation can start a positive relationship with FPO. Chaudhari et al., (2015) and Chopade (2019) [3] have reported similar findings.

Social Participation with Impact of FPO

Social Participation was seen as positive significant with Farmer Producer Organization. After joining the Farmer Producer Organizations, the respondents found that their interaction and communication levels have been increased within their community as well as with the other communities also. This enabled them to interact and learn new farming techniques from other farming communities as well. Hence, it is clear from the results that the social participation has been found to be positive and favourable relation with Impact of the Farmer Producer Organization. Similar results are found in the studies conducted by Ahire and Kapse (2015) [1] , Deshmukh (2016) [6] and Chopade (2019) [3] .

Extension Contact with Impact of FPO

The Farmer Producer Organization was positively significant with Extension Contact. The respondents' extension contact has increased after joining the Farmer Producer Organizations, due to extension activities carried out by the extension personals and the scientists. Therefore, the Extension Contact of the respondents could build positive and favourable relation with the impact of Farmer Producer Organization. Sharma and Badodiya (2016) [15] , Nargawe (2017) [10] and Supe (2017) [16] reported similar findings.

Economic Motivation with Impact of FPO

Economic Motivation was found to be positively significant with the Farmer Producer Organization. The amount of annual saving and annual income of the respondents has increased after joining the Farmer Producer Organizations and consequently the economic Motivation levels have increased. Most of the respondents are in the medium level of the economic motivation. Hence, it could be concluded that the Economic Motivation of the respondents has established a positive relation with the impact of Farmer Producer Organization. The same results has been reported by Nargawe (2017) [10] and Chopade (2019) [3] .

Cosmopoliteness with Impact of FPO

Cosmopoliteness was found to be positively significant with the Farmer Producer Organization. After joining the Farmer Producer Organization, the cosmopoliteness levels of the respondents have been increased and majority of the respondents belong to the medium levels of the Cosmopoliteness because of their involvement with the farmer producer Organization. Thus, the cosmopoliteness could create a positive relationship with the influence of the Farmer Producer Organization. The same has been observed by Patil and Wangikar (2017) [12] and Chopade (2019) [3] .

Risk Orientation with Impact of FPO

Risk Orientation was found to be positively significant with the Farmer Producer Organization. But after joining the Farmer producer Organization, most of the respondents showed great interest in taking up the risk of implementing the new farming system and models as it increases the productivity, annual savings and annual income levels of the respondents. The results could be concluded that risk orientation can develop positive and favourable relation with the Farmer Producer Organization. Nargawe (2017) [10] , Supe (2017) [16] and Chopade (2019) [3] have reported similar findings.

Conclusion

The profile analysis of the members showed that most of the members of the Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) were middle aged, educated up to college level and having medium income and medium land holdings of their households in Krishna District. Many respondents were involved in livestock rearing, business, service and allied activities while Agriculture was the major occupation. The social participation, extension contact, economic motivation, cosmopoliteness and risk preference exhibited by most members was medium. The above features indicate that the membership of FPOs is highly composed of farmers with moderate levels of resource access, information and institutional linkages, and economically active. The majority of the responses rate to most variables were medium, suggesting the profile of the members is a balance between accepting new opportunities and pragmatic decision making. "Overall, the findings indicate that the members possess favourable socio-economic and behavioural characteristics that can support effective participation in Farmer Producer Organisations."

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