A Study on Factors Influencing Farmer Satisfaction with the Services of Farmer Producer Companies in Western Districts of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

In order to establish policies and programmes that meet the requirements of small and marginal farmers, it is necessary to assess farmers' satisfaction with the quality of services provided by the Farmer Producer Companies. Main aim of this study was to figure out what characteristics influence farmers' satisfaction with the services provided by the Farmer Producer Companies. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data from a sample of 200 farmer members of Farmer Producer Companies in the western region of Tamil Nadu. Descriptive statistics, Likert scaling technique and a logistic-regression model were used to analyse the data. The results showed that farmers had highest level of satisfaction for the items like Norms, rules and regulations in joining the FPC with a mean of 4.22 and were less satisfied with the statement financial support rendered by the FPC to its members with a mean score of 1.88. The results of the binary logistic regression model revealed that education, farm size, farming experience and membership period positively influenced the farmer satisfaction in the service provided by the Farmer Producer Companies; but as age of the farmers increased, overall farmers satisfaction with the services provided by the FPCs decreased. The results also showed that variables like annual income, family type and crop diversity were not significant predictors of satisfaction. Results of this study would be helpful to identify and overcome the shortfalls in the existing activities and services rendered by the Farmer Producer Companies.