Smallholder Producers Under Vertical Integration in Andhra Pradesh
-A case study
Poultry is one of the fastest growing segments within the agricultural sector in India today. One of the factors behind this phenomenal growth is contract farming under vertical integration. In principle, contract farming could be an institutional arrangement that enables farmers’ access to markets and supply of inputs and is a model practiced by private corporations to monetize the technological advances through decentralized production and market driven process. The system per se is a replicable model and can be best adapted for market based development approaches. However it only provides a broad structural solution for livestock based livelihood initiatives. In the context of the poor farmers, it fails to be inclusive as they lack basic requirements mandated by the integrators. Moreover it has limitations to its environmental sustainability as well as scope for participatory governance by the contract farmers.
This information document looks at the process of contract farming being practiced at Venkateshwara Hatcheries limited (VHL), and reviews the process of contract farming and showcases the limitation in context to small/landless farmers and makes recommendations of how it can be made pro-poor which can contribute to the development of the poor poultry rearers.
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