Purnamay Farmer Producer Company Ltd, Kapileswar, established in Akola district in Maharashtra covering small and marginal farmers became the alternate market for the farmers. This FPO was established in the year 2014 and promoted by BASIX under Maharashtra Agricultural Competitiveness Project (MACP).
As part of the FPO promotion activities, BASIX initiated the market linkage opportunities for the FPO. Based on the fact that the traders pay 15-20% more for superior quality produce, BASIX advised the FPO to set up a cleaning and grading unit for the farmer produce like cereals and pulses. This resulted in superior quality of the produce which in-turn helped in better price and demand in the market.
Shri Santosh Shende, Chairman of the FPO tied up with Mother Dairy, the procurement company for purchasing the superior quality produce from the FPO. Both the FPO and the farmer members of the FPO benefitted with this market linkage and most importantly farmer members gained confidence in the FPO as they received better price for their produce by selling to the FPO rather than selling the market directly.
Farmers could avail many facilities like proper weighing through usage of electronic weighing, no mandi fees, minimal transportation expenses, no labour charges, no middlemen and most importantly better price for their produce.