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Hyderabad, Oct 8: Far from the existing corporate or contract farming, co-operative movement is becoming a revolution. Thanks to the retail boom, retailers are giving a push to this momentum for better supply chain management. Even while the existing contract or corporate farming is being debated by many states as there are no clear-cut policies during violation by the corporates, co-operatives are much sought-after by the retailers. The buyers list includes ITC's e-choupal, Reliance Fresh, Heritage Foods and many more are the in the process to join the co-operative movement.
Reason is obvious as the co-operatives are registered under the mutually-aided co-operative society Act. For instance, as pilot, the Federation of Farmers' Association (FFA) of Andhra Pradesh has initiated a move by setting up eight co-operatives in the state for mango which has helped in mitigating losses to an extent of Rs 2-3 crore. Says Chengal Reddy, chairman, FFA: ''About 4,000 farmers in over 1,40,000 acres are working across eight co-operatives in Chitoor for mango production. This is being sourced by Coca-Cola to an extent of 3,500 tonnes of mango. Owing to the increasing demand, we are planning to increase it to over 12 co-operatives by this year end.''
Interestingly, FFA has forged relationships with ITC in Medak district in Andhra Pradesh for sourcing vegetables on about 200-300 acres with over 700 growers and is in talks with Heritage Foods for supplying over one lakh bags of Sona Masoori rice. ''We are in the process of forming a society towards this,'' Reddy said. On the same lines, a co-operative movement is already in place for dairy products in association with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), he added.
''More so, many states across the country do not have a policy for contract farming to assist the farmers during any kind of violation of the terms and agreement,'' says an commodity analyst. A strict code-of-conduct for contract farming arrangements have to be in place by the corporates, the analyst said adding that perhaps this is also one of the moves to boost cooperative movement. Moreover, the state Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act is yet to be amended in many states which is affecting direct market linkages, Reddy said.
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