Abstract

                                Farmer Producer Groups (FPGs) have emerged as a possible solution tomany of the problems faced by the Indian agriculture sector. The plightof small and marginal tribal farmers is aggravated by the weak marketingsystem: lack of quality input and technical services. The situation can beimproved through collectivization when grouped and trained effectively,farmers can achieve enormous growth goals, finally making the group selfreliant and self-sufficient. The study focused on identifying the constraintsfaced by members of FPGs and possible suggestions for the tribal farmersof Seethampeta block of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh. The studyincluded 145 members, selected through a multi-stage proportionate randomsampling method from three villages with the highest number of FPGs andmembers. Data collection was done through personal interview method andthe respondents were provided with open-ended questions for listing out theconstraints faced by them and suggestions for improving the effectivenessof FPGs. The constraints listed were then grouped into economic, marketing,organizational, technical and socio-cultural constraints. The collected datawere analyzed using frequency and percentage. The ranking was given basedon the percentage for easy identification of the major and minor constraintsfaced by the tribal farmers of FPGs under study.

Key words : Constraints; Farmer Producer Groups (FPGs); Suggestions; Tribal farmers