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Relevance of Dharani FaM Co-op Ltd
Dharani FaM Co-op Ltd., was thus established to play a greater role in addressing these issues and also ensuring its farmer members better returns.

As a producer owned co-operative, Dharani FaM Co-op Ltd., can ensure its members better and fair price for their produce. They are also assured of the market for their produce through its marketing activities. Linking the farmer members to the growing organic market will add to the direct returns of the farmer members. Provision of cultivation loans through the co-operative will also reduce the debt burden of the farmers, at least to the extent of relieving them from the clutches of the local moneylenders / traders. Farmers are also entitled to share the profit of the co-operative once it crosses the break-even point.

The co-operative does this through the following activities besides the regular crop loan distribution and procurement processes.

i) Processing and value addition
The food grains, pulses and oilseeds sold by the farmer members to the cooperative are processed for value addition and for effective marketing.

ii) Preparation of Promotional material
In order to effectively market the products, promotional materials such as brochures, posters, flyers etc. on the nutrition information and health benefits of organic products are prepared and distributed.

iii) Creating rural and urban market linkages for Organic Produce
In order to provide effective marketing support to the farmers, market linkages with urban and rural consumer groups are being put in place. This includes linking with urban and rural based consumers, undertaking market surveys, organising meetings with consumer groups etc. Dharani FaM Co-op, as a business venture, carries out marketing activities to ensure the establishment of these linkages.

iv) Brand building
Advertising and communication campaigns are being conducted in order to build consumer awareness about the products of Dharani FaM Co-op.

v) Setting up a website
A website is under construction and will have all the details of the business enterprise and its work. It will ultimately serve as an information sharing and promotion & marketing tool.

vi) Certification
After careful analysis of the existing organic certification systems in the country, it was decided to go in for PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) which is small-holder farmer friendly, less expensive, with comparatively less documentation and more reliable. Being a member of the PGS Organic India Council (PGSOIC) - the national body working on promoting and establishing PGS in the country - the Collective was able to take forward PGS as one of the pioneering organisations in India. Regular participation and contribution by the Collective in the PGSOIC provides the opportunity to update the certification process and enables the Collective to efficiently implement the certification process on the ground.

vii) Capacity building of Directors
Capacity building of the directors in managing the business venture is an important aspect of the intervention. Capacity building is through exposure visits to business ventures managed other cooperatives or companies dealing in agriculture commodities, through training programmes conducted by internal and external resource persons and through regular meetings on business planning and monitoring.

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