Smallholder farmers in India face considerable challenges in terms of market access. The Indian government supports farmer producer companies (FPCs) as a legal-institutional innovation to achieve market benefits for small-scale farmers. FPCs have key agency-enhancing features that distinguish them from India’s traditional cooperative legal structure, but they also demonstrate weaknesses that need to be addressed to ensure future success.

With the government aiming to promote thousands more farmer producer organisations — most of which are expected to be FPCs — by 2024, it is critical to learn from FPCs’ promotion and performance to date to inform the government’s strategy. Targeted actions can help FPCs become more inclusive, sustainable and robust in promoting small producers’ agency, and can strengthen FPCs’ capacity to succeed in contemporary markets.