The arguments put forward in this paper draw upon the experience accrued in supporting associations of timber producers through the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme. As part of a Programme-experience capitalisation process, staff members conducted interviews with both service providers and, where possible, end beneficiaries of the projects. The Programme analyzed the impacts of these projects to determine best practices for supporting associations and the benefits they bring to MSMEs.

Aggregation models where small farms jointly access credit, inputs, information, and product markets are not new to global agricultural systems. For over a century, agricultural cooperatives worldwide have tried rectifying small farm disadvantages in market access. In the last two decades, newer aggregation models such as farmer producer organizations, farmer groups, enterprises, and companies have increased. This scoping review assesses the taxonomy of aggregation models, identifies factors responsible for their re-emergence, analyzes their benefits to smallholders, and pinpoints the research gaps in the literature. The review finds that in erstwhile socialist economies, cooperatives emerged as a means of voluntary aggregation following decollectivization from the 1980s onwards. In countries that traditionally had cooperatives, newer aggregation models emerged as cooperatives faltered in adapting to market transformations. The new aggregation models focused on higher-value horticulture crops, livestock, dairy, and cash crops, in line with changing markets and demand. While identified qualitative and quantitative studies showed that aggregation models improved access to factor markets for credit, technology, and extension services, joint selling remained relatively low. Although many studies reported household welfare gains; studies assessing the organizational performance of aggregation models were fewer in number. The review’s limitations were that it mainly identifies studies in English (and some Spanish) and evaluated only successful aggregation models, pointing to a survivorship bias in the literature. Long-term studies of aggregation models utilizing panel data and robust design to infer causation and multiple case studies to uncover the heterogeneity of aggregation models are crucial.

The purpose of the Working Paper Series (WPS) is to provide an opportunity to IRMA faculty, visiting fellows, and students to sound out their ideas and research work before publication and to get feedback and comments from their peer group. Therefore, a working paper is to be considered as a pre-publication document of the Institute. This is a pre-publication draft for academic circulation and comments only.

Eighty-seven percent of agricultural households in India are small and marginal producers, cultivating small plots which generate low returns. Their average monthly income is Rs 6426, making farming on small plots economically unviable (NSSO 2014). Therefore, policy makers and practitioners are turning to producer collectives as a means for improving the economic situation of small producers.