A strong push for structured collaboration between India’s hospitality industry and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) dominated the FPO–Hospitality & Farmers’ Benefit Summit 2025, where Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi highlighted that the future of farmer prosperity lies in building direct, long-term supply partnerships.
Addressing hotel leaders, farmer groups and cooperative representatives, he said that linking hotels with FPOs and cooperatives is essential for ensuring high-quality produce for the industry while enabling farmers to secure better prices.
Dr. Chaturvedi noted that India today has nearly 40,000 FPOs, many of which operate like rural cooperatives offering clean, chemical-free and sustainably produced food. This, he said, aligns perfectly with the hospitality sector’s growing demand for safe, traceable and premium ingredients.
Despite this advantage, farmers continue to struggle with an inverted pricing structure: they purchase agricultural inputs at retail rates but sell their produce at wholesale prices. According to him, only direct procurement arrangements with hotels and restaurants can help correct this imbalance.
Reiterating the Prime Minister’s emphasis on stronger agriculture–industry linkages, he stated that hotel–FPO tie-ups will create reliable supply chains, enhance traceability and secure year-round sourcing. Most importantly, they will help raise farmer incomes while enabling the hospitality sector to strengthen its contribution to GDP, tourism and job creation.
He also pointed to the Kumarakom Model in Kerala as a successful example of tourism enterprises working directly with local communities and cooperatives. Similar partnerships, he said, can be scaled across India to promote organic products, GI-tagged items and region-specific specialties produced by FPOs.
Suman Billa, Additional Secretary and Director General in the Ministry of Tourism, echoed the need for a fast-tracked and well-defined framework for farmer–hotel partnerships. He said such a system would accelerate the government’s development goals while enriching rural livelihoods and building stronger value chains linked to tourism.
FHRAI President Surendra Kumar Jaiswal affirmed that the hotel industry is willing to buy directly from FPOs provided there is consistent supply and assured quality. M. P. Bezbaruah, Secretary-General of the Hotel Association of India, reiterated the industry’s demand for infrastructure status for hotels, saying it would boost investment and support such farm-linked initiatives.
Industry representatives including Rahool Macarius of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Vishvapreet Singh Cheema of Lemon Tree Hotels and Ankita Jaiswal of HRANI and UPHRA expressed readiness to adopt a national farm-to-hospitality model if operational processes and aggregation mechanisms with FPOs are clearly laid out.
The technical session, moderated by food writer Sourish Bhattacharyya, brought together experts such as Asha Sota, Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, Kirti Prasanna Mishra, Ashwni Kumar Goela, Meena Bhatia, and chefs Davinder Kumar and Rakesh Sethi. They collectively outlined a practical blueprint for integrating cooperatives and FPOs into the hospitality supply chain.
One of the major draws of the Summit was FHRAI’s exhibition featuring 50 FPOs from 17 states. They showcased a wide range of GI-tagged and specialty products including Himalayan saffron, yellow tea, black turmeric, forest honey, mamra almonds, makhana, katarni rice and Kandhamal haldi.
The exhibition gave FPOs direct exposure to institutional buyers, marking a significant step toward building stronger, cooperative-driven market linkages for farmers across the country.
