Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) launches hub housing database of over 4,400 Indian FPOs

Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) for Agriculture and Nutrition on Wednesday launched a hub for Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) within its Center of Excellence in New Delhi.

The hub, which features a first-of-its-kind database of Indian FPOs, has been created with a USD 1 million grant from the Walmart Foundation.

The hub will serve as a repository of learnings, information, and knowledge for the advancement of FPOs in India, a statement said.

TCI's database is the only centralised source of data on Indian FPOs currently available, it added.

“FPOs are crucial for both improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and increasing the supply of diverse, nutritious foods that are increasingly in demand across India,” TCI Director Prabhu Pingali said.

Bringing together data on the over 4,400 FPOs in India will facilitate research aimed at developing strong, effective FPO models, he said.

Through the FPO Hub, TCI aims to provide a foundation of data-based knowledge on top of which strong, effective FPOs can be built and sustained, he added.

Farmers have formed FPOs since the early 2000s. In 2014, the Indian government began a renewed push to promote FPOs.

A critical part of the hub is TCI's database for Indian FPOs. Through the interactive web-based dashboard, researchers can access a wealth of data on FPOs, such as crops produced, founding years, and sponsoring agencies.

Ultimately, the data will allow researchers at the hub to formulate models to boost smallholder farmer income and welfare.