Farmer Producers Organisations Board of Directors (BoDs) Social and Economic Empowerment, Roles and Responsibilities in Telangana State, India

Abstract

The study was aimed to identify the Board of Directors (BoDs) social and economic empowerment as well as their roles and responsibilities in selected Farmer Producer Organisations in Telangana state. Ex-post facto research design was used for the study. The present study was conducted for Board of Directors of NABARD promoted FPOs in Telangana state. The samples were selected randomly from mixed FPOs and women FPOs namely 60 men BoDs and 60 women BoDs from mixed FPOs and 60 women BoDs from women FPOs. Thus constituting to sample of 180 respondents. The data was collected using well-structured and pre tested interview schedule. We find out that in economic empowerment, majority of the men BoDs in mixed FPOs felt that access to quality inputs and services ranked as 1st economic empowerment aspect with the garret score as 75.26. With regards to women BoDs in mixed FPOs, majority (garret score 66.33) of the respondents believed that reduction in cost of cultivation as major aspect by which they become economically empower. Among women BoDs in women FPOs, majority (garret score 62.98) felt that access to quality inputs and services improves their economic empowerment. Overall data showed that, majority of the men BoDs in mixed FPOs and women BoDs in mixed and women FPO felt that good recognition in the society as major social empowerment aspect by ranking it first with garret scores as 70.30, 72.93 and 66.45 respectively. The findings showed that there was a clear gender disparity in the roles and responsibilities of Board of Directors (BoDs) within mixed and women-only Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in Telangana state. The results concluded that there is a need for focused capacity-building initiatives, leadership training for women, and policy interventions that promote equitable participation of men and women, challenge stereotypes, and empower women to play a substantial role in FPO activities.