Experiments in farmers' collectives in Eastern India and Nepal: Process, benefits, and challenges

Fraser Sugden*, Bina Agarwal, Stephanie Leder, Panchali Saikia, Dhananjay Ray, Manita Raut, Anoj Kumar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
214 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Do farmers' collectives, which pool land, labour, capital, and skills to create medium-sized production units, offer a more viable model of farming for resource-constrained smallholders than individual family farms? A participatory action research project in Eastern India and Nepal provides notable answers. Groups of marginal and tenant farmers, catalysed by the project, evolved into four different collective models with varying levels of cooperation, gender composition, and land ownership/tenancy status. Based on 3 years of action research, this paper examines how the models evolved and their differential outcomes. All groups have gained from cultivating contiguous plots in their efficiency of labour and machine use for land preparation and irrigation, and from economies in input purchase. Several collectives of tenant farmers have also enhanced their bargaining power vis-a-vis an entrenched landlord class and thus been able to negotiate lower rents and refuse long-standing feudal obligations. However, the models differ in their extent of economic gain and their ability to handle gender inequalities and conflicts over labour sharing. The paper explores the historical, regional, and cultural factors that could explain such differences across the models. It thus offers unique insights into the processes, benefits, and challenges of farmers' collectives and provides pointers for replication and further research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)90-121
Number of pages32
JournalJournal of Agrarian Change
Volume21
Issue number1
Early online date21 Jul 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2021

Keywords

  • Farmers' collectives
  • group farming
  • participatory action research, eastern India, Nepal

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Archaeology
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology

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