{"id":62848,"date":"2025-12-29T18:32:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T13:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=62848"},"modified":"2025-12-30T11:28:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T05:58:56","slug":"marginal-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/29-12-2025\/marginal-farmers","title":{"rendered":"Marginal Farmers Largely Outside Cooperatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Agriculture; Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A report by <strong>Forum of Enterprises for Equitable Development (FEED) <\/strong>highlights that less than <strong>25%<\/strong> of India&#8217;s marginal farmers are members of agricultural cooperatives, despite making up nearly <strong>60-70 percent<\/strong> of the country\u2019s agricultural households.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are Cooperatives?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A cooperative is an <strong>organization or business<\/strong> that is <strong>owned and operated by a group of individuals<\/strong> who share a common interest, goal, or need.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These <strong>individuals<\/strong>, <strong>known as members<\/strong>, participate in the cooperative&#8217;s activities and <strong>decision-making process<\/strong>, typically on a one-member, one-vote basis, regardless of the amount of capital or resources each member contributes.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The main purpose of a cooperative is <strong>to meet the economic, social, or cultural needs of its members, <\/strong>rather than to maximize profits for external shareholders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Role of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) are credit societies that are registered under the<strong> Cooperative Societies Act of the State concerned.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They are<strong> grassroots-level institutions<\/strong> in villages with individual farmers, artisans, and other weaker sections as member shareholders.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They form the <strong>lowest tier of the federated short-term cooperative credit structure <\/strong>with District Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and\/or State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) in their upper tiers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They serve as the closest institutional interface for farmers to access;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Agricultural credit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inputs such as seeds and fertilisers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Procurement and marketing channels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Public services including PDS and digital services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Findings of the Report<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Marginal farmers,<\/strong> defined as cultivators owning less than one hectare of land, form the structural backbone of India\u2019s agrarian economy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Barriers to Inclusion in Cooperatives:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Complex membership procedures<\/strong> and documentation requirements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Long physical distance<\/strong> to PACS, raising transaction costs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited capital availability<\/strong> within cooperatives, reducing their effectiveness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Persistent social exclusion<\/strong> based on caste, class, and gender.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Digital Divide Limits Benefits: <\/strong>Digital adoption by cooperatives remains low, particularly in states like <strong>Tripura and Bihar.<\/strong> Digital skills gaps among farmers, especially older and women farmers, further constrain uptake.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender and Leadership Gaps: <\/strong>Cooperatives continue to be male-dominated, especially in leadership roles. While <strong>21.25 lakh women<\/strong> are registered as cooperative members, <strong>only 3,355 women<\/strong> serve as directors on cooperative boards nationwide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Positive outcomes of the Cooperative Access:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>45 percent<\/strong> of cooperative-linked marginal farmers reported an increase in household income.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>67 percent <\/strong>of cooperative members accessed credit and financial services through PACS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>42 percent<\/strong> of marginal farmers linked to cooperatives reported improved crop yields.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Initiatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs):<\/strong> The Central Sector Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs focuses on small and marginal farmers.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It provides handholding support, equity grants, and credit guarantee cover.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Digital Agriculture Mission: <\/strong>Aims to build a digital public infrastructure for agriculture, including farmer registries and land records.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Support:<\/strong> NCDC provides financial assistance and capacity-building support to cooperatives.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It focuses on strengthening cooperatives in credit, marketing, processing, and storage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In India\u2019s agrarian structure those who dominate agriculture numerically remain institutionally marginalised.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strengthening PACS, simplifying cooperative membership, bridging the digital divide, and promoting genuine gender inclusion are essential to make cooperatives effective instruments of inclusive rural development.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For India\u2019s agricultural transformation to be equitable and resilient, marginal farmers must be placed at the centre of cooperative reform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/agriculture\/only-1-in-4-marginal-farmers-in-india-linked-to-cooperatives-report-finds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A report by Forum of Enterprises for Equitable Development (FEED) highlights that less than 25% of India&#8217;s marginal farmers are members of agricultural cooperatives, despite making up nearly 60-70 percent of the country\u2019s agricultural households.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are Cooperatives?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A cooperative is an organization or business that is owned and operated by a group of individuals who share a common interest, goal, or need.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The main purpose of a cooperative is to meet the economic, social, or cultural needs of its members, rather than to maximize profits for external shareholders.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/29-12-2025\/marginal-farmers\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62850,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62848\/revisions\/62850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}