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Saturday, December 6, 2008

A multiple project approach

The support of SCC to Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) in Zambia, illustrates how effective changes in marketing behaviour, prices and transaction costs, demand multiple project approaches which can be combined and coordinated within one farmers’ organisation. The market linkages are also very effective to increase the membership base. The case further illustrates how advocacy efforts by the farmer organisation have contributed to improvements on farm level. The case highlights the strategic potential of working via a mix of small and larger scale farmers in one organisation and of a more participatory exit strategy via the farmers’ organisation.

“The support of SCC to ZNFU took place between 2006 and 2008. Important ingredients of the approach for improving market access have been the introduction of a price and trade information system (price information on 24 commodities accessible by mobile phones), bulking of produce and collective marketing, awareness training on micro finance practice. Also support to improve access to agricultural inputs and skills training was included and crucial for the positive results. HIV mainstreaming and gender have further contributed to inclusion of the vulnerable into the successful approaches. From the organisational part, the membership of ZNFU increased from 5.659 to 9.313 members between 2005 and 2008. Lobby activities of ZNFU have contributed to the success of the marketing and productivity initiatives. ZNFU managed to lobby with the government to increase the number of beneficiaries for the national ‘Fertiliser Support Programme’. As a result, the number of national beneficiaries increased from 70.000 to 200.000 small holder farmers and the subsidy increased from 72% to 82%. ZNFU also facilitated strategic collaboration with organisations to foster conservation agriculture. Finally ZNFU has been active in various regional and international trade agreement discussions. The different support initiatives have improved the price negotiation processes of farmers and their access to better paying agricultural markets. ZNFU knows an unique membership base characterised by a mix of small scale and larger scale farmers. Thanks to the larger scale farmers, activities tended to take a more business oriented nature and small scale farmers were inspired.”

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Positive results, despite negative external trends

In El Salvador the cooperative dynamics in the Confederación de Federaciones de la Reforma Agraria Salvadoreña CONFRAS (confederation) were strengthened and CONFRAS was enabled to contribute to farm diversification and marketing, resulting in increased income for farmers, including women, and despite negative external trends. There is still need for continuous attention and awareness creation for farmers to produce according to market demand. Also, despite high female membership, the participation of young people and women in managerial roles remains relatively low.

“The support involved 11 cooperatives and 5 women’s committees (representing in total 328 women and 388 men). Functional and organisational aspects of the cooperatives and participating women’s committees were strengthened. 11 cooperatives have improved their management (for example adequate accounting and improved participation in general assembly’s has increased by 84%). The gender aspect has been very central during the organisational strengthening. Presently 27% of the management positions are taken by women in the cooperatives, compared to 10% at the start, with an impact on further strategies and policies for gender in the cooperatives. Apart from the organisational strengthening of the different cooperatives, CONFRAS has strengthened its capacity to defend the rights of the cooperative members and has supported the advocacy capacity of its grass root members. These organisational and advocacy efforts have been very complementary to support farmers for product diversification and collective marketing. A result of 140 ha with 23 new crops can be registered. 87% of the members market their produce together (of which 60% women). In 2008, 358 producers increased the value of their farm plots by at least 40%. 67% of the total population obtained higher incomes and 34% of the participating household met their basic food needs, made small investments in irrigation or purchased agricultural supplies. This impact was realised against a negative external trend of flood, which caused 15% loss of production. Also the price of agricultural inputs generally increased with 100% in the region. There are remaining challenges. It asks continuous efforts to overcome lack of trust and to change the attitude of ‘selling what is produced’ towards ‘producing what can be sold’. Also, despite improvements, participation of young people and women in managerial roles remains low, and needs further encouragement.”

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Sun flowering

Patrick Ogwang (ogwangpatrick@yahoo.com) is a thirty-year-old farmer from Dokolo in Northern Uganda. Many people who were driven away by armed conflicts before now live in this area. Only since two years the area is experiencing a relative sense of safety. HIV/ Aids is another major issue which is always present and disrupts family life. Patrick got married in 2007, he and his wife have two little boys, of which one is already going to nursery. Patrick owns two acres of land where he grows several crops like maize, soyabeans, sweet potatoes, sogum, peas and sesame seed.

Patrick became a member of the Uganda Oilseed Producers and Processors Association (UOSPA) in 2005. UOSPA promotes sunflower growing among its farming members as a means of generating additional income. In order to enable farmers to market their commodities in a better way, UOSPA is also supporting them to organise themselves in groups. The promotional activities of UOSPA stimulated Patrick in making his decision to start growing sunflowers. Besides promoting sunflower cultivation, UOSPA also offers extensive service to its members. On average Patrick is visited by an UOSPA advisor twice a month. During those visits together they identify bottlenecks, after which they share their findings with the other farmers in the group in order to think up solutions. Patrick and his group also attend training sessions organised by UOSPA. Here they learn about different issues like: good agronomic practice (e.g. intercropping and rotation of crops), land preparation and planting techniques, farming as a business, nutrition, HIV/Aids and hygiene. Patrick indicated that he learns a lot from these trainings.

Patrick regards sunflower as an easy growing crop which, when the knowledge obtained from the trainings of UOSPA is applied correctly, does not require too much labour. Therefore he can pay more attention to his other crops and his cattle. He now owns one cow and a calve, two goats and eight chickens. Furthermore, sunflower enables him to earn cash money. Compared to the period before he grew sunflowers, Patrick estimates that he is now earning 1,000 to 2,000 Ugandan Shillings extra per day. With that money (though worth less than 1 Euro) he feels that he can take better care of his cattle and he feels he can support his family very well. Patrick is also saving some money now, and with those savings he expects to be able to provide his children with good education when they grow older. According to Patrick, these positive changes in his life can be attributed to the growing of sunflowers and the very instructive trainings organised by UOSPA.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Better price for the rice

The case of a farmers group in Uganda, member of Uganda Co-operative Alliance (UCA), demonstrates the benefits for farmers from adapted and professional training on the warehouse receipt concept. The warehouse receipt scheme was complemented by a credit and loan association leading to decreased vulnerability. More sustainable links with more important markets were established thanks to the sale of larger quantities.

“In Mukono district, a group of farmers joined forces to store and sell rice in a warehouse receipt scheme. They received training and advice from the Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA), a partner of SCC. The farmers can store their rice in a common warehouse and decide themselves when they want to sell their harvest. They can take out loans against their warehouse receipts from a UCA supported savings and credit association whenever they need to. The chair of the cooperative witnesses: ‘the loans mean that we don’t have to sell when the prices are low. Working together also means that we can get better prices. We are now also supplying rice to Makerere University, which is something that we never believed possible’.”

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Rags to Riches

Ms. Manju Thing is about 50 years old (she does not know her age exactly). She is married and has 5 daughters and 2 sons. She used to earn an income together with her husband from woodcutting and selling wood and sand collection/sand sieving. They are landless people. She is since 7 years member of the Mahila Cheetana SACCOS (Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies) in Makwanpur
What was your situation before (several years ago)?
Manju used to be cutting wood and filtering sand together with her husband to make a living. They did not have their own land and had a very simple house with a leaf roof. She belongs to an ethnic group in Nepal (minority group), which in general does not have a high status in the society. She was having a marginal life with hardly any options to improve her livelihood and had a very low social status in the society.

How is your situation now? What has changed?
Manju is now living in a small house with 2 rooms and a proper roof. She is at present the chairperson of the Mahila Cheetana SACCOS, having a total of 1092 members. She is a board member of the District Union Council of Makawanpur and is a highly respected person in the community.


Which changes were most important/far reaching? Why?
The most important change in her life is that she has learned to talk to people, to network and to mobilize other people. As a result of this, she feels empowered, and people respect her a lot these days. It has not been easy and a lot of hard work has been done by her. But now she is very happy and feels that the credit comes to her. Economically her life has not changed that much: she owns a small two room house, but she is happy with that. The award she got is a higher social status, self esteem and lots of recognition by the society around her.

How/why did these changes come about? (describe process and what caused these changes?)
Manju participated as an active member in a Self Help Group (SHG) of poor women, being supported by PLAN Nepal, starting about 10 years ago. Manju gradually took the lead in this SHG, and she mobilized many people. The group decided to register as a multipurpose SACCOS 7 years ago. However, this did not really work for the group and three years ago the multipurpose coop was transformed into a women’s saving and credit cooperative society with initially 58 members. This has grown into a successful women’s SACCOS and she is now the chairperson.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Trust and motivation

A loan from a local group (SACCO) hasn’t only boosted the economic potential of a member of this local group in Tanzania, but has mainly boosted her social confidence and trust in future enterprises.

In Tanzania, a member of a SACCO reports on the changes in her life. Although she has not been in a leadership position in a SACCO and only joined three years ago, she has experienced important effects. She took a loan in 2006 to grow local beans in a nearby irrigation scheme. She bought seeds and pesticides with a loan and paid the labourers. By selling the harvest, she was able to pay back the loan and to keep a small profit. The profit was relatively low because of changed market conditions at harvest time. More important for her and her husband was the successful experience of managing the loan. After her experience, her husband equally had a loan to grow onions in the same irrigation scheme. Rose is currently pregnant and doesn’t have an outstanding loan but her experience was motivating. She is planning to take another loan in the near future. This time it will be to start a small trading business of local vegetables. Rose is very optimistic about future changes she can make to her life.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Business at base level

A woman, farming in Malawi, illustrates the effectiveness of support to local farmer groups (members of NASFAM) for farm diversification, improved marketing and household food security. The group approach for training increased her motivation and the provision of cheaper inputs via the farmer association has pulled her further into the business.

“The support project to NASFAM and other associations in Malawi by SCC, reached 60.000 farmers. One of the members witnesses that she joined a local farmer group and has since been regularly visited by the field workers of the organisation. The organisation also provides her with group training for crop diversification. She also had access to fertilizer and seeds for sweet potato at a cheaper price. This has helped her to grow sweet potatoes, water melon and tropical fruit in addition to the traditional maize. She is now able to feed her family and also sells some products at the local market. The sales provide her with an additional monthly income of 400 SEK. She has been able to construct a brick house with this profit.” (SCC)

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Knowledge utilised is power

A farmer, member of Nembure farmers’ cooperative society in Kenya, describes how he managed to break the circle of poverty through farm diversification and improved marketing. The fact to interact and socialise with other farmers of the cooperative has been the start of and has been his major motivation to remain member of the cooperative. The cooperative has further supported him all the way to smoothly roll out his first initiatives towards more intensive farming. Despite the improvements and continuous support, he finds he remains vulnerable to market price fluctuations.

“He had always been eager for information and received this information by socialising with people. This was initially also his main reason for joining the cooperative. In the cooperative, he was informed on the potential of growing passion fruits. Initially he planted 70 un-grafted plants and his initiative grew eventually to cultivating 280 of grafted plants. He also started investing in poles, wires and sprays to fully protect his plants. According to him, the production costs are reasonable but market price fluctuations can pose problems. The fruits are harvested and marketed locally on a weekly basis and brokers collect them from the farm to sell at the Embu market. His passion fruits fetch an average Kenyan shillings 6,000 per month, which is an additional income to his traditional coffee and subsistence farming. Since he succeeded in growing passion fruits, he has also expanded his farm towards papaya, water melon and tomatoes. These complement his income when the passion fruit price is low. He feels relieved because he doesn’t have to worry anymore about family expenses and school fees. He is a proud father now.”

Monday, May 19, 2008

Kenfap’s role during the after election violence in Kenya

The large scale political violence after the disputed Kenyan presidential elections in 2007 heavily affected the country. Not surprisingly it has also deeply affected Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP), its operations and its members. During the last months of 2007 and the first four months of 2008 KENFAP could not carry out its program normally. Some of the KENFAP regional staff was displaced and hence deployed elsewhere. Moreover, Kenya was not safe to travel, especially in the affected areas. The Kenyan farmers have lost a lot over during the political violence. Farms have been burnt, several of got killed especially in the most affected areas, stores were destroyed, roads were blocked. Due to destroyed infrastructure milk and other perishables couldn't access markets or processing plants. Meanwhile people in the urban areas were lacking food and supplies. Some of Kenfaps' staff and members have lost all that they owned during the process of ethnic animosity.

Some days after the violent outburst Kenfap - in coalition with some other organizations – made firm press statements calling upon peace and reconcilement and appealing leaders and politicians to set personal interests and emotions aside. Additional, KENFAP took the initiative of a massive effort to restore peace and foster reconciliation in the affected districts. KENFAP initiated peace and reconciliation meetings at district and local level attended by local stakeholders from all levels and farmers. It gave the participants room to express their anger, fear and frustration, but those meetings also led to mutual understanding among people with different ethnic backgrounds. Moreover the information that elicited from the participants during the meetings proved to be a very powerful package in the lobby and advocacy efforts towards the national government. This has given KENFAP a leading voice articulating farmers’ issues in the national debate after the post election violence, especially concerning rising costs of seeds and fertilizers and looming food shortages as a result of the violence. In short KENFAP recognition has grown dramatically as a result of the leading role KENFAP took in the aftermath of the disputed elections. The highlight was the KENFAP meeting of national farmer leaders in Nairobi on March 14th, attended by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Mathaai.

Besides Agriterra's support at the crises relief stage, various others such as GTZ, GOAL, Mercy Corps came in and partnered with KENFAP at a number of issues. Although peace-building doesn’t belong to a farmer organizations’ core business, KENFAP 's interference was of great importance. At the point the entire systems in Kenya went down, even the government could not intervene, but KENFAP did. KENFAP was able to pacify the antagonistic communities all the way to the local level. kENFAP took its responsibility on matters affecting its members.

By date, the situation has slowly turned back to normal and consequently KENFAP has been resuming its normal activities. Issues of skyrocketed prices of fertilizers and seeds and looming food shortages however remain on the lobby agenda of Kenfap.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Monday, May 12, 2008

It’s peanut time

In the North West Burkina Faso (Province of Mouhoun) AFDI has promoted facilitation of better management and economic analysis of farm resources by their members. The fact that farmers could discuss the innovations amongst each other has contributed significantly to their awareness and effective changes. The impact (2007) has been very significant for farmers who have participated for at last three years. The example shows the potential to increase awareness and to improve yields and quality by improved farm resource management. The experience also points out the intensive and long term support needed to achieve these results. The membership remains limited (170 farmers have been involved directly and neighbouring farmers were affected indirectly).

“Just because of the approach and the farm analysis, farmers themselves have further requested their organisation to provide technical courses on making compost, cattle husbandry and also requested assistance of the supply of cattle vaccines. Farmers have organised themselves and requested more exchange between farmers which are now a regular part of the strategy of the farmer organisation. These exchanges have clearly motivated farmers and have led to in-depth discussion between farmers on the advantages of specific innovations like improved seeds. This approach was witnessed as the most effective way of convincing farmers for well considered innovations at farmer level.
- Because of this behavioural change, crop husbandry, yields and margins of crops have further increased. The yields (per ha) of rice, maize and peanuts is 969 kg, 1.333 kg and 824 kg respectively for farmers who have participated for more than three years. This compares to 600 kg, 1.111 kg and 648 kg for new participants.
- Because of the improved quality of products, in which some farmers now started to specialise, the market prices have further increased. All farmers who participated for more than three years, have witnessed increased income. The profit margins per ha have equally increased. For farmers who participated for more than three years, profit has increased to 97.046 CFA for rice, to 47.370 CFA for peanuts and to 42.425 for maize, compared to 71.333 CFA for rice in case of new participants, 40.638 for peanuts and 29.452 for maize.
- The method has also increased the consciousness of members of the food security needs of the household, also by men. Management of harvest and stocks is now better adapted to these needs. Participants further stressed that because of the sale of short cycle cash crops, school costs were better covered and the school attendance of children of participants have increased more than for non or recent participants.”

Friday, April 4, 2008

Non-traditional crops improve the life of Tanzanian farmers

The impact data of members of Mayawa in Kagera, demonstrate how farmers have increasingly been able to profit from potential positive regional marketing trends as a member of the farmers association. At the same time, the impact data illustrate that market studies have not been readily available when necessary, resulting in unexpected market shocks or unexploited opportunities for farmers. Also, volumes remain too limited to attract large buyers.

“Mayawa is a regional farmer organisation in Kagera, Tanzania, which is active in both rural and urban areas. It has received organisational support for several years since the 1990’s. Mayawa has contributed to introduction of small holder production of vanilla, mushrooms, rosella and jatropha in Kagera. Successes have been recorded, but they have not been fully exploited because of deficient market studies when introducing new crops. Still, a quantitative survey found that the average farmer income from non-traditional crops increased by 326% in the rural areas and by 441% in the urban areas. The average annual production of food crops increased with 17% and 5% for urban and rural districts respectively between 2003 and 2007. These gains cannot only be attributed to Mayawa. Mayawa has rather empowered farmers to make the most of the positive external influences. Despite the high production increase, the volumes are still too low to attract large buyers that require assurance of continued supply of reasonable quantities. There are initiatives underway for Mayawa to get an organic certificate for vanilla, which is expected to boost their marketing potential. The increased income has helped to improve the quality of housing of members: 54 % of the houses were made of bricks in 2007 against 30% four years earlier, 46% houses had mud walls compared to 70% four years earlier. 49% of the respondents own a phone now, 90% acquired this phone during the programme period and used it for market information. The major elements of further impact on farmers’ well-being are: improved food security, increased confidence, optimism and trust that have evolved over the years of the organisation’s existence.”

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Sowing without ploughing

In Tunisia and in Morocco, ‘sowing without ploughing’ (no till) was introduced through grassroots groups and associations. As a result the farmers’ income ánd environmental sustainability increased. This approach through associations enabled quick replication and stable linkages to research institutes. The case illustrates how gradual and long term support to these important change processes has been necessary for farmers to fully adapt. Moreover, exchange with farmers in France, has been an extra motivation for the farmer groups to bundle their forces. Finally, the fact that organised farmers have been able to buy collectively capital intensive equipment has certainly contributed to the success.

“Direct sowing has major positive effects in reducing erosion and shows also important labour saving and cost saving characteristics that allow vulnerable farmers to increase acreage and crop diversity. The project argues that facilitating the process of farmers to organise themselves in grassroots groups and into agriculture conservation associations that function as platforms of cooperation between research institutions, farmer organisations, technicians and private companies, has in particular promoted the introduction of this new technology. The introduction of the improved techniques is gradual. Farmers need to be convinced of the advantages and need to collaborate with each other before they invest in the relatively costly sowing equipment. A case study of a group of farmers of Mateur (Tunisia) illustrates these dynamics. The support started in 2001 by introducing the advantages of direct sowing to three farmers and by renting a no-till sowing machine. 17 ha were directly sowed. In 2002, their yields rose from 12QTx to 20 QTx and in 2003 from 54 QTX to 58 QTX. Four years later, in 2005-2006 after exchange visits with farmer groups in France, and Spain, seven farmers started a cooperative (El Manuel) and bought a seeder together. They sowed directly (without ploughing) 672 ha of land, which is 44% of their land. The yields of the crops have more than doubled. Whereas in 2001, direct sowing was only applied for wheat, now seven crops are directly sowed. The support has facilitated the process because it has covered a long term period allowing farmers to adopt the new system on approximately 80% of their land.” Similar dynamics have been observed in Morocco with support to the formation and activities of the Khemisset Chaouïa cooperative (started in 2000). The process of introduction of ‘no till’ cultivation was slightly different from in Tunisia but also shows some similarities. “Since 2000, 10 of the 20 farmers of the cooperative started ‘no till’ cultivation on 19% of their total acreage and for three crops. After years of borrowing cultivators, sometimes of inferior quality, the cooperative felt sufficiently confident to buy a no-till sowing machine in 2005. Now, approximately 30% of the members’ land is cultivated directly by the community-owned seeder. In all cases, yields are at least the same as in conventional systems.”

Friday, February 15, 2008

Farmers’ exchange works

In the North West Burkina Faso (Province of Mouhoun) AFDI has promoted facilitation of better management and economic analysis of farm resources by their members. The fact that farmers could discuss the innovations amongst each other has contributed significantly to their awareness and effective changes. The impact (2007) has been very significant for farmers who have participated for at last three years. The example shows the potential to increase awareness and to improve yields and quality by improved farm resource management. The experience also points out the intensive and long term support needed to achieve these results. The membership remains limited (170 farmers have been involved directly and neighbouring farmers were affected indirectly).

“Just because of the approach and the farm analysis, farmers themselves have further requested their organisation to provide technical courses on making compost, cattle husbandry and also requested assistance of the supply of cattle vaccines. Farmers have organised themselves and requested more exchange between farmers which are now a regular part of the strategy of the farmer organisation. These exchanges have clearly motivated farmers and have led to in-depth discussion between farmers on the advantages of specific innovations like improved seeds. This approach was witnessed as the most effective way of convincing farmers for well considered innovations at farmer level.
- Because of this behavioural change, crop husbandry, yields and margins of crops have further increased. The yields (per ha) of rice, maize and peanuts is 969 kg, 1.333 kg and 824 kg respectively for farmers who have participated for more than three years. This compares to 600 kg, 1.111 kg and 648 kg for new participants.
- Because of the improved quality of products, in which some farmers now started to specialise, the market prices have further increased. All farmers who participated for more than three years, have witnessed increased income. The profit margins per ha have equally increased. For farmers who participated for more than three years, profit has increased to 97.046 CFA for rice, to 47.370 CFA for peanuts and to 42.425 for maize, compared to 71.333 CFA for rice in case of new participants, 40.638 for peanuts and 29.452 for maize.
- The method has also increased the consciousness of members of the food security needs of the household, also by men. Management of harvest and stocks is now better adapted to these needs. Participants further stressed that because of the sale of short cycle cash crops, school costs were better covered and the school attendance of children of participants have increased more than for non or recent participants.”

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Farmers know their soil

In Senegal, UPA-DI has supported a pilot project ‘Les Savoirs des Gens de la Terre’, for about 80 farmers within one federation (Fédération des périmètres autogérés, FPA) and one farmers’ union (Union des groupements paysans de Méchke, UGPM). The awareness and confidence of farmers and their dynamics and motivation have improved. An external evaluation warns for one sided focus on farm leaders and pleads for strengthening further the links with the membership base.

“The objectives of the project are situated on the level of the farmers (better farm management, planning, analysis and improved technical competence, including traditional knowledge) and on the level of the farmer organisations (technical contribution to development of farmer organisations, support for better assessment of farmers’ needs and to democratic management of local groups). The members witness several type of changes which they summarize as: ’managing better our present situation in order to better control the future, rather than living the present without future vision’. They are more aware of their rights and consider themselves as full participants in society. The project also contributed to intensified links between local farmer groups. The leaders of the local organisations discuss agriculture policy now ‘under the tree’, even complicated matters (the role of government, food sovereignty, equity principles etc.). At the same time an external evaluation warns for too much focus on strengthening of leaders of producer organisations as they might become disconnected of the membership basis. The evaluation concludes that the local farmer groups have matured and are more aware of the value of collective action but also states that the need for transparency and communication to their constituents deserves more attention.”
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