Strengthening FOs’ capacities - a farmer-2-farmer approach As part of the theme "Connecting Farmers to the Food Chain - Conditions and Solutions." Marnix Sanderse – Business Advisor Zambia 4th May, 2016

Agriterra background Agri-agency founded by Dutch Farmer Organisations (1997) Funded by the Dutch government Based on successful FOs and cooperatives in The Netherlands (LTO, FrieslandCampina, Rabobank) Active in 16 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America Mission: strengthen FOs and cooperatives & link them to the value chain Farmer-2-farmer approach: advice from experts in the Dutch agricultural sector

Agriterra approach: 3 pillars Farmer Advocacy: building effective lobbying capacities of FOs (lobby cycle) Farmer Services: business advice to FOs and cooperatives to improve member services, entrepreneurship and productivity. Farmer-led Enterprises: transforming cooperatives into viable businesses (e.g. processing, bankable business plans, business strategy) By focusing on few clients within a limited number of countries, Agriterra is able to target those cooperatives or other farmer owned enterprises, who are ambitious and economically active, have good management, have more than 1,000 members and who have plans to invest in order to expand their business. Agriterra’s support is especially based on technical advice from experts from the Dutch agricultural and cooperative sector combined with limited project funding. The advisory services can be applied to all aspects of the business planning process, access to finance trajectory or the implementation phase. 3 pillars: lobbying & advocacy, improving farmer skills for better results & making cooperatives bankable

Farmer-2-farmer approach Tap into practical know-how of experts from Dutch agricultural sector Advisory missions, trainings and exchange visits

Key fundamentals of FOs

Linking farmers to the food chain (1) Food industry targeting organised smallholder farmers as suppliers of high-quality raw materials. Agriterra starting point for improving the position and income of farmers organized in FOs. Dairy Development Programme (Africa & Asia) Partnership Agriterra – FrieslandCampina Objectives: boost dairy production, strengthen position of dairy farmers in the value chain Approach: strengthen dairy cooperatives, train dairy farmers Results: Outreach to 70,000 dairy farmers Improve quality and increase productivity in dairy sector Expand processing capacity of Kenyan dairy cooperatives

Linking farmers to the food chain (2) Key conditions Farmers should be organised in FOs / cooperatives FOs should have strong governance, financial and operational management Key solutions Advice-training-exchange through farmer-2-farmer approach Strengthening capacities in lobbying, membership services and business mindset

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