BEYOND THE PLATE
Entrepreneurship through Women-led Farmer Producer Organisations
● Online | 30 September 2026 | 5:30–6:30 pm
Spotlighting the functioning of Farmer Producer Organisations in India, this Beyond the Plate session discussed the multifaceted role of women farmers as entrepreneurs, leaders, and decision makers.
SHREYA BANSAL
Women farmers from the Sittilingi Organic Farmers Association (SOFA), a women-led millet production centre in Tamil Nadu. Photo courtesy of SOFA.
Located at the intersection of farming and business, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) play a key role in improving access to resources, market linkages, capacity building, and social inclusion, especially for women farmers. They also act as formal spaces where farmers can collectivise to scale their businesses and work on securing a market for agricultural produce.
Over 40,000 FPOs are registered across India. Out of these, 10,000 FPOs fall under the government’s Central Sector Scheme of ‘Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs Scheme. According to government data, 21.96 lakh of the 56 lakh farmers registered in these FPOs are women. Over a thousand of these FPOs are entirely composed of women farmers.
While these numbers demonstrate strong membership from women farmers, they are not enough to understand the impact of FPOs. There is limited discussion about how women farmer-led FPOs operate and overcome challenges including structural issues like weak market linkage, credit concerns , and management difficulties. There is a need to look at FPOs through the lens of gender and incorporate guidelines to support women farmers. This may look like incorporating training methodology to support women farmers or providing additional access to shared or working capital, especially since historically, women farmers have been prevented from managing money. These interventions are necessary to enable women farmers to take up roles as leaders and entrepreneurs within these systems.
This Beyond the Plate session held as a part of The Locavore’s Woman Farmer Project discusses how FPOs can strengthen women farmer-entrepreneurs. The conversation spotlights the labour of women farmers beyond the fields and highlights the impact of FPOs in shaping their role as leaders and decision makers.
Meet our Panelists
Birjo Bai Kubhre, Board member, Narmada Self-Reliant Farmers Producer Company
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Birjo Bai Kubhre is a board member of Narmada Self-Reliant Farmers Producer Company in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. She works on millet procurement, processing, and marketing, contributing to efforts to strengthen local agricultural livelihoods and create employment opportunities for women. For the past three years, Birjo Bai has been a core member of Network for Conserving Central India’s Millet Roundtable, bringing her lived experience and practical knowledge to collective efforts that address the challenges and opportunities around reviving traditional millets in the Kanha landscape.
“When I first joined the FPO, I was very scared because I had not gone out a lot or talked to many people. But when I joined the FPO along with other women, I had the courage that I can also do something. I think I can also support other people now.”
Birjo Bai plays a central role in managing the functions of Narmada Self-Reliant Farmers Producer Company. “During seed distribution, all the stocks are stored in my house. I take care of the register and record all the money transactions and the names of people who take the seeds,” she says.
Birjo Bai also discussed her journey toward taking up leadership roles in the company. While she started her training in Mandla, she eventually went beyond Madhya Pradesh, to Delhi and Haryana, to interact with other farmer entrepreneurs. Soon, she spent three years, from 2016-2019, training other women as well.
Birjo Bai would go from door to door in the village, telling other farmers about the relevance of kodo and kutki millets. “People would ask me if I am teaching them the wrong things. They would say that initially they were told to grow maize and rice but now it is kodo and kutki,” she says. “I had to explain that there was a need for us to go back to what our ancestors grew if we want to save our harvest and fields.” Community members are hesitant to listen at first, Birjo Bai says. “But when I sit with them and am able to answer their questions, they understand.”
In one instance, Birjo told the farmers that it is beneficial for them if they treat the crops before sowing them. When farmers were hesitant, she set an example by showing them how to sow Sem or hyacinth beans. “They learnt that these crops were not infested and were easier to harvest because of their tall height,” she says. “I have been able to take [other women farmers] forward because they trust me.” Birjo Bai also emphasises the need to take collective consent from all the women in an FPO in order to strengthen its functioning. “I always ask the women their needs, and tell them that once we have taken collective decisions, it is my job to take us forward,” she says.
Birjo Bai also shared the challenges faced during training, and how people often question what women farmers can do. She discussed the additional discrimination women farmers face from oppressor caste farmers and trainers while also shedding light on her own experience. But this process has also taught her to speak up without hesitation in meetings and conversations with various stakeholders.
Annapurna Neti, Professor at School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru
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Annapurna Neti teaches in the MA Development and MBA programmes at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. She has over 20 years of experience covering research, consulting, and teaching. Her expertise lies in the areas of informal livelihoods, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Microfinance and financial Inclusion, and farmer producer companies. Annapurna holds a PhD from Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru. She has worked with Small Industries Development Bank of India and has also been a consultant to multiple organisations in the social sector. She has served as an Expert Director on the board of an all-women dairy producer company for several years. Read more about her work here.
“Historically, women’s access to resources has been constrained. It can be in terms of prevailing gender norms and access to assets and education. All this can limit the entrepreneurial mindset required to take risks and experiment.”
Annapurna discussed the role of the Self Help Group (SHG) movement in India in collectivising women farmers. According to her, trust is a key factor in the functioning of FPOs. “The solidarity and trust that SHGs have managed to build among women producers is incredible,” says Annapurna. Women leaders like Birjo Bai play several crucial roles in upholding FPOs and mobilising other women. SHGs also have a role in building abilities like financial discipline through consistent collectivising among women.
Annapurna highlighted the need to recognise that SHGs are smaller collectives and have smaller functional range as compared to an FPO. “SHGs are limited to savings and credit practices and to some extent shared resource management,” she says. Therefore, “the training provided at the SHGs level is not enough.” According to her, we need to realise that running an organisation like an FPO is different and much more complex. Here, we have to look at other factors like enhancing production, cost saving, and creating more work opportunities for women. More importantly, FPOs have unique compliance requirements. When creating training models, it is important to recognise the needs of a particular FPO and its members in order to provide appropriate resources and support, according to Annupurna.
She further discussed how the experiences of women like Birjo Bai highlight the intersectionality of experiences and additional challenges that women in FPOs face due to their caste or class identity. “This cannot be ignored,” she says. “We cannot just celebrate that we have promoted women-led collectives. We need to recognise what is happening on the ground.” It is crucial to focus beyond just numbers and see how many FPOs are actually able to function profitably and support their members. “It is important to strengthen these companies so that they become viable.”
Vijay Ramteke, Field Operations Coordinator, NCCI, Translator for Bai Birjo Kubhre
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Vijay Ramteke is the Field Operations Coordinator at NCCI, supporting the Agrodiversity & Livelihoods programme. A conservation practitioner, filmmaker, and co-founder of the Johar Field School under Paigam Organization, he brings extensive field-based experience and a deep connection with the Central Indian landscape and communities that live here to his work. Vijay’s interests include biocultural heritage conservation, experiential learning, and community-led conservation.
Divyaa Gupta (Moderator)
Founder, Bazaar and Rozgaar Initiative
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Divyaa Gupta is a gender and development professional with over a decade of experience working in the realm of women’s livelihoods, entrepreneurship, and grassroots development. She is the founder of BARI (Bazaar Aur Rozgaar Initiative), where she works with rural and urban communities to strengthen women- and youth-led collective enterprises. She has previously worked with organisations including SEWA Cooperative Federation, Azad Foundation, Jagori, and Synergy Sansthan across areas including women’s economic empowerment, livelihoods, informal work, mobility, and gender-based violence. She holds postgraduate degrees in Gender Studies and Conflict Transformation. Read more about her work here.
Discussion
- In order to understand the impact and functioning of FPOs, we need to recognise the unique needs of its members. Beyond just looking at increasing numbers of FPOs and its registered members, we also need to focus on the ground reality and ensure that the FPOs are viable.
- Due to a historical lack of access, women-led FPOs require consistent training that enables women to think and function as entrepreneurs and supports them in developing skills.
- The challenges faced by women farmers and entrepreneurs remain intersectional and cannot be ignored. We need to recognise the various factors that impact the daily functioning of women-led FPOs.
Learnings
- The ability of FPOs to support women farmers can be credited to the Self Help Group movement in India that laid the foundation for collectivisation and mobilisation for women farmers.
- FPOs are not just restricted to being women’s collectives but are complex in nature with multifaceted managerial operations. Therefore, they require that support and training be provided for women farmers for extended periods of time in order to make the FPOs successful.
- Women emerging as leaders and building trust within the community is an important impact that FPOs have had on farming communities while also being an important factor in their continued success.
Shreya Bansal
Writer
Khorshed Deboo
Copy Editor
This Beyond the Plate was produced in partnership with the Network for Conserving Central India (NCCI). Read more about their work here.
This Beyond the Plate is part of the Woman Farmer Project, a multimedia storytelling initiative led by The Locavore in partnership with the Doc Society Climate Story Kitchen. It aims to build a roadmap for successful collaborations between institutions and innovative grassroots networks who are committed to amplifying climate stories.
The Doc Society supports climate action across the globe by championing independent filmmakers, audio producers, journalists, and artists working alongside impact producers and movement builders to bring more communities into climate conversations to advance climate just and biodiverse futures.