Contract farming is not a new practice in India and has been in place since the early 1900s or earlier. During the colonial period, cash crops such as tea, coffee, rubber, poppy, and indigo were grown in various parts of the country, mostly through central, expatriate-owned estates surrounded by small outgrowers. Most such arrangements exploited small peasantry and resulted in indenture and alienation in some instances. The ITC introduced cultivation of Virginia tobacco in coastal Andhra Pradesh in the 1920s incorporating most elements of a fair contract farming system and met with a good farmer response. This was replaced by auctions in 1984.
The British East India Company used the contract farming model for the procurement of crops like jute and tobacco for export to the West, and post-Independence some crops were still grown and procured by both processors and mills under this mechanism.
The first and most significant push for contract farming in independent India, despite varying opinions among many, came in the late 1980s when PepsiCo was permitted to use the contract farming model for growing and procuring a special variety of potatoes for their famous “Lay’s” brand. Since then, there has been no looking back. Contract farming as a model has been used by several businesses to benefit both the corporates and the farmers. Currently, several businesses are using the contract farming model in India. While PepsiCo uses it for procuring potato in Punjab, Adani Wilmar uses it to avail groundnut and oil palms in Gujarat. There are also several brands of tobacco using the model for getting their business needs met. Contract farming is in use in the procurement of basmati rice, chili, and some horticulture products as well.
Two sides of the coin
この記事は AgroSpectrum の Agrospectrum India Nov 2022 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は AgroSpectrum の Agrospectrum India Nov 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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