Farmers' Organisation
AGRICULTURE
Development projects have often tried to make farmers happy in spite of themselves… By working to strengthen agricultural professionalisation, we are helping them to reposition themselves at the centre of the game.
The issues
Most agricultural production in developing countries comes from family farms. For a long time, these farms have been faced with multiple constraints: land insecurity, little or no savings and investment capacity, difficult access to credit, fertilisers and seeds, training and extension systems that are often obsolete or even absent, low mechanisation and almost no motorisation, etc. The rapid increase in population, the deregulation and opening up of agricultural markets, and the impact of climate change are only exacerbating these constraints. Maintaining agriculture and food security in these countries can only be done by supporting family farmers. The challenge is to produce as much, or more, while limiting the deterioration of natural resources, particularly soils and forests. This can only be done by supporting the farmers’ own dynamics over the long term, rather than by multiplying the supply of training, equipment, donations, etc. A pile of bricks does not make a house!
Our services
Bringing together family farmers allows them to exchange their practices, to help each other and to create a constructive emulation conducive to increasing production and income. We work in three areas:
(i) strengthening planning and organisational capacities: helping the organisation (group, union or federation) to take stock of its strengths and weaknesses, define its vision, objectives and the means to be implemented, establish effective governance with elected officials and transparent internal management, train members (functional literacy, simplified management, etc.), mobilise endogenous resources, and evaluate itself regularly;
(ii) technical and commercial capacity building: support the transfer of agronomic research, in particular through on-farm experimentation and farm advice, help the organisation to obtain inputs, market its products, manage equipment or collective buildings;
(iii) Strengthening representation capacities: supporting the organisation to dialogue with the administration (to secure land, influence taxes, etc.), with technical and financial partners (by promoting their own action plan) and with other professionals in their sector(s).
