1. Institution & Farmer Capacity Building Tom, Ron, Raul, Rosa, Gonzalo, Mohamed, Nabeel

2. Farmer Organizational Situation Variation in farmer organizational capacity – successes exist but not exploited for learning –Democratic process –Effective & sustained leadership that is trusted –Adequate funding (e.g. smart subsidies) Bad experience with farmer organizations – farmers now averse Weak institutions in regards to business advise

3. Discussion of farmer groups – what works and what does not Prior & continuing misguided advice (form government and nongovernmental) Error in ‘pushing’ farmers to organize – need for wait for trust to develop ‘Smart Subsidies’ are effective and perhaps needed –Egyptian mango visit to SA, grape visit to Chile

4. Farmer Groups Support & encouragement for ‘self financing’ Specific member organizations commodity based – responsible for market chain analysis & intelligence (farmers therefore members of different organizations) Rather than a formal apex organization – more of a ‘pay for service’ organization Use of ‘check off’ for financing (may be mandatory) Tension between individual entrepreneurship and collection action

5. Farmer Groups Profits drive adoption If working at a small and simple level, adoption will be rapid and spontaneous Effective training – by one’s peers – more effective than external training Need to look at support to ‘farmer trainers’ with time bound incentive support

6. Recommendation Learning Analyze the factors that contribute to what works and what does not work Packaging for sharing content Platform for sharing lessons

7. Institutional Capacity Support ‘Collective borrowing’ by cooperatives and education of commercial banks Need for arbitrage (e.g. warehouse receipt schemes) We know how it works when it works well We have many examples of when it does not work and why it has failed What remains is articulating how to make it work – this time

8. Continuing … How to control corruption? How to ensure accountability (e.g. annual elections, change of leadership) How to empower members to assert democratic ownership? Given the different situations (governance, culture etc.) how to tailor group support? Need to be cognizant of the political environment – need for advocacy

9. Role of CSOs in linking farmers to markets Facilitate but don’t intervene (teach but don’t do! – or better farmers as trainers) Role different in different regions (e.g. few CSOs in West Asia – many in Latin America) In Egypt NGOs tend to go for the donor attractive initiatives – women’s rights, environment – but not on linking farmers to markets In Colombia, there is a hybrid of public-private (CSO) partnership CSOs and CIALs in lead role in technology evaluation and innovation Political interference in ‘farmer organization rampant across Africa Need for local action – support traditional organizations and local government – that might be more accountable to the community

10. What can GPP contribute? General support –Market support –Governance systems –Education & Training (Skills) Possible need for an analytical tool to assess the situation in specific country contexts to inform a specific strategy for farmer organization support

11. Last Comments … Gender issues a challenge – tend to address but with nuance Need to address needs of urban returning youth – especially in Latin America Need to look at the entire ‘market support chain’ and identify weaknesses and support

12. Last Comments II … Need for success stories and ‘best practice’ cases But need to run these through specific country contexts – to render appropriate Putting together a toolbox with a menu of options Feedback mechanism of what adaptations worked and what did not and why At the end of the day – markets are changing rapidly and we all need to be nimble

13. The Big Points There is a need for individual farmers to organize Role of “CSOs” particularly NGOs not clear Role of governments evident – need for farmer organizations as the center of advocacy Need for “smart subsidies” Farmer organization knowledge base sound and accessible But clearly one size does not fit all! Need for better assessment & analysis to tailor approach and to then have feed back

14. Role of CSOs 2 nd & 3 rd order farmer organizations preferred NGOs very variable – often not accountable Need for greater accountability of NGOs – to governments and to farmers No consensus on the role of NGOs in GPP –Possible role as catalyst – where needed –Important to avoid competition

15. Role of Government No complete consensus emerged Have an important role – but often fail to deliver Focus on infrastructure – roads ‘one urban overpass could build 300 km of rural road’ Need a vision – to set the strategy

16. Final Conclusions There is a need for farmer capacity building to access ‘millennium markets’ – need to be concrete and specific! Both organizational and marketing –Focus on quality - standards Value added packaging Storage – Post harvest efficiency –Intermediate storage – warehousing Grading –Byproduct processing & sale

17. Smallholder farmers Those at risk of being left behind? Focus on the marginalized and vulnerable or on the emerging entrepreneurs? It is a dream to think we will protect all farmers