MSc

India is an agriculture based country, where 60.4% of the population is engaged in agriculture and allied activities. India has over 92 million small holdings or nearly 21% of the world’s small holdings of 450 million (NABARD reports, 2019). The challenge was therefore enormous for India to ensure that small holdings are truly productive and are the main source of livelihoods for millions of people dependent on it. Several institutional models were being tried in India as well as in Kerala to integrate farmers with the value chain. In 2002, through an amendment in the Indian Companies Act, 1956, the Government of India incorporated a new section IXA “Producer Company”. The basic purpose of the Producer Company is to collectivise the farmers or producers for backward linkage such as inputs like seeds, fertilisers, credit, insurance, knowledge and extension services and forward linkages such as collective marketing, processing, market led agriculture production etc.
The objectives of the study were to examine the structure and operations of Venad Poultry Farmer Producer Company (FPC), to analyse the role of Farmer Producer Company in augmenting farm income and to identify the problems faced by the company. By considering the accomplishment of thesis works amidst of COVID - 19 outbreaks, Kollam district was selected for the study.
The analysis of structure and operations of Venad Poultry Farmer Producer Company revealed that company had a good structure in terms of human resource as well as company departments. While analyzing the operations of the company, simple growth index, compound annual growth rate and ratio analysis were used. The operations of the company were studied under two heads; parameter wise and ratio
wise analysis. The company was in its introductory stage ie; established during the mid of 2016. The share capital, deposits, sales, gross and net profits were having a positive growth. The borrowings of the company had decreased so far which indicates the operations of the company was good enough to repay its borrowings. While analyzing the operations in terms of liquidity, profitability, asset management, and leverage, the company had a stable position in its operations.
The role of Venad Poultry Farmer Producer Company in augmenting farm income was studied under two heads; parameter wise and member satisfaction level wise. In case of parameter wise analysis, the extension services, input supply and prices were studied by comparing the same facilities provided by a private organization “Saguna” established during 2017 dealing with poultry from the same locality of Producer Company. From the parameter wise analysis it was clear that the Venad Poultry Farmer Producer Company was providing inputs at affordable rates in comparison to private firm. The availability of inputs such as medicines, vaccines, poultry feeds and equipments were a greater relief to poorer farmers. The extension services provided by the company were free of cost and it helped the farmers to acquire new knowledge and technologies that were adoptable to nurture birds. Therefore it was clear that Producer Company runs under co-operative principle. The cost-benefit analysis of household farmers availing services from Venad Poultry FPC and Saguna Pvt. Ltd reveals that the farmers of FPC had obtained greater returns per bird in comparison with farmers availing services from Saguna private firm. The company helps the farmers to market their produce with a brand quality which in turn increases the market value and income for the farmers. The brand name "Venad Signature eggs and chicken" obtained national level acceptance and rewarded for their unique technology - source traceability. In view of member satisfaction, the SERVQUAL model was used for the analysis and it consist of five parameters viz; tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Among the five parameter, the empathy obtained highest
satisfaction index of 96 percent. Empathy could be included in the seventh principle of co-operation – concern for community.
The problems confronted by Venad Poultry Farmer Producer Company were studied from the view of Board of Directors of the company. The data were collected and analysed using index method. The problems were categorized as negligible, tolerable, risk, severe and chronic. The problems were sub divided into administrative problems, structural problems, human resource related problems and functional problems. The administrative problems were further sub divided as problems related to board meeting, problems related to general body meeting and problems related to audit. The functional problems were also further divided into problems in functional area of board, problems in procurement, processing, input supply, marketing and other related problems. The overall index obtained was categorized under tolerable category. It indicates that the company was able to handle their existing barriers and problems over the years. Therefore it could be concluded that Venad Poultry Farmer Producer Company had a greater role in augmenting the farm income of its member farmers.