From farmers to organizations
How collective action can transform smallholder agriculture
Smallholder farmers produce most of the food in developing countries, but still they account for majority of the 800 million food insecure and poorest people globally. The World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger worldwide. Smallholders and their families account for a large portion of our food assistance recipients. At the same time, we are a major buyer of staple food — procuring over 2 million metric tons (mt) each year, of which 80 percent is sourced from developing countries.
This is why we have been implementing Purchase for Progress (P4P) since 2008, leveraging our purchasing power to connect smallholder farmers to markets. Buying food locally from smallholder farmers has the potential to improve the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, and increase the food and nutrition security of those furthest behind. Farmers sell to WFP, as well as to government and private sector buyers.
These investments are empowering smallholder farmers and their communities to become competitive actors in global market systems. They are strengthening local economies and increasing the resilience and productivity of rural communities.
Individually, smallholder farmers face numerous challenges, including low volume and quality of crops, poor on-farm storage capacity, inadequate marketing capacity, lack of financial resources and physical distance from profitable markets. This impedes their potential to become established market actors. Large-scale buyers instead prefer to work with intermediaries, such as traders, who engage smallholders on an informal basis.
By working collectively through the various types of farmers’ organizations (FOs), smallholders can better access formal markets, negotiate for higher prices, gain favourable discounts on bulk purchases of agri-inputs and benefit from lowered interest rates on agricultural loans. While P4P is implemented across different country and agricultural contexts, one thing has remained constant — garnering inclusively beneficial collective action by encouraging smallholders to work through farmers’ organizations. This has been key in enabling smallholders to build stronger businesses.
P4P strengthens FO capacity to improve production, aggregation and marketing of members’ commodities through the provision of storage infrastructure and equipment, inputs, access to finance and agricultural training. Combining forces with diverse partners providing technical support across a broad range of areas, from supply to demand sides, is presenting smallholder farmers with access to formal, remunerative markets.
In the north of Nicaragua, smallholder farmers are benefiting from the linkages they have developed through their participation in farmers’ organizations. Pastora Sevilla, a 66-year old mother of four shares her story. She is a member of “Peace and Reconciliation” — a WFP-supported cooperative based in Estelí. Sevilla and her husband Juan Adolfo Benavidez produce maize and beans.
“For us, working in association with other farmers has many advantages. We have managed to achieve progress, as we now produce more and at a better quality”, she says. Through this progress, she has been able to provide education to all her children. “My children were the first ones in the family to go to university”, she adds with great pride, whilst highlighting that this is product of their hard work as agricultural producers.
In Mozambique, Cooperativa Morena represents another success story. Established in 2008, it now boasts a membership of 293 smallholder farmers, mostly women. WFP support has enabled members to build a warehouse and acquire equipment for increasing their maize processing capacity. In 2016, the cooperative sold over 170 mt of grains. The members have also formed savings groups. Some of these are led by women and help female members to open bank accounts.
Members are now selling their produce at better prices and investing a portion of the profits towards improving members’ agricultural productivity. Benefits from increased sales have enabled smallholders to send their children to school, build better housing and diversify their agricultural production to include nutritious food such as pulses and vegetables.
In Ecuador, we link smallholder farmers’ associations to the government-run school meals programme, providing fresh and nutritious food to schoolchildren. Smallholder farmers’ associations that promote greater participation of women are prioritized. This innovative model is simultaneously increasing smallholder farmers’ access to markets, their productivity and income, as well as children’s nutrition. It is promoting communities to work together to improve their social economy.
“Working with WFP and the local government has allowed us to know the real value of our products. Not only do we deliver fresh and healthy products to local schools, but we are strengthening our productivity, diversifying our production and encouraging continued sowing,” shares Elva Tambaco, president of the ASESORALASAB farmers’ association in Imbabura that participates in this assistance model.
While the programme has been successful on many fronts, there is still much that can be done to strengthen farmers’ organizations to positively transform the lives of their members. Longer-term investments are required for large-scale change and visible impacts in fortifying the connections between smallholder farmers, their organizations and formal buyers. Capacity building cannot be a “one-size-fits-all” strategy, but needs to be tailored to match the strengths and weaknesses of smallholder farmers and their organizations. Finally, FO members must have strong trust relationships, a common vision for success and shared goals for the future in order to prosper.
The conclusion is clear — collective action has the power to enable smallholders globally to thrive and transform their lives. There are, however, immense challenges in achieving the required results, and we cannot do it alone. In our quest to achieving the global goals, collaboration with partners across the value chain is fundamental to create sustainable demand and scale-up support in building smallholders’ capacities.
Find out more about P4P and WFP’s work in smallholder market support.
For any more questions, follow us at Purchase 4 Progress or tweet @WFP_P4P.
