By Antony Muchoki
For income generating small-holder farming initiatives to be more viable in Africa, considerable efforts must be directed to building up credible and forward moving farmer organizations.
Farmer leaders from across the continent during the 4th AGRF in Ethiopia were all in agreement that stronger farmer organizations were a key ingredient in taking green revolution in the continent to the next level.
Participants in two related sessions- “AGRF Farmers Forum” and “The Role of Farmers and Farmer Organizations in African Agribusiness,” were unanimous that long term success or failure of green revolution would be determined by how smallholder farmers were organized.
The case of banana farmers in central Kenya featured prominently, where grower groups connected with the power of mobile phones, have been able to overcome lack of market access and also stem out exploitation by middlemen.
Banana farming has become one of the most lucrative trade in the area as farmers are organized and united by common interest- to get the best price for their produce,” noted Mr Philip Kiriro, the President Eastern African Farmers Federation (EAFF).
He was adamant that from the smallest unit, to apex bodies and cooperatives- well organized famers make more business sense.
“Farmers will always join movements that they are sure will help them improve their incomes,” he quipped, noting that despite many challenges farmers organizations were making strides in almost every African country.
“From the grassroots to the national levels- organized farmers are able to address common issues collectively and with power,” he said. Accordingly, it was paramount to building the organizational and business capacity of farmer groups. “It leads to very high returns for members and for the society.”
According to Mr Philip small famers want to develop. Farming most of the time is their sole business and thus should earn decent income from it to improve their quality of livelihood. They generally have the will for that. Unfortunately, they face a great obstacle- policies that are not supportive while others lose their meaning across the value chain, and turn out to be completely draconian and regressive.
Some policies collide into the opposite direction along the value chain, leaving the farmers as the losers, unable to get the best incomes from the work of their hands, noted Ms Shanila Habibu, a small farmer from Tanzania, and a civil society leader who was at the event.
If only majority of African government could take a leaf or two from Rwanda and put in place support systems for smallholder farming, it’s the best way forward.
“Putting farmers’ cooperatives as a business model and ensuring access to finance along the value chain, is the way to go,” noted Dr Jonh Matunga, CEO Kenya National Farmers Federation (KENAFF).
Keys to successes advanced during the two session for famer organizations to have vibrant membership included farmers participation, accountability and transparency, timely communication between leaders and farmers.
According to Dr Matunga farmers are able to navigate their way better from production to market access and value additions, when they are together. Concluding, EAFF president noted that AGRA’s Farmer Organization Support Centre in Africa (FOSCA) was doing a good job strengthening the capacity of farmer organizations to enable them offer income generating and demand driven services to their members. “But more needs to be done,” he said.
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