Module 1 - Strengthening the Capacity of Farmer Organizations to Influence Agricultural Policy

Lack of capacity to use economic opportunities and an inability to access resources and services contribute to poverty—a condition that is also profoundly affected by a lack of empowerment. In the competition for economic and political power, the voices of the poor, particularly the rural poor, are usually not heard. Rural producer organizations (RPOs) help address these problems by empowering rural people, building rural social capital, and increasing farmers’ voice in public sector decision making. Building this capacity requires identifying rural producer organizations; strengthening their internal governance structures and information systems; developing an active policy dialogue with government agencies; and building technical, strategic, and negotiating capacity of RPO leaders.

In most countries, economic liberalization has been accompanied by political liberalization, which offers new opportunities for action by economic agents, including RPOs. The state’s withdrawal from some activities has left a vacuum in the institutional and organizational framework for addressing rural needs. The private sector has filled this vacuum only partially. There is also a need for improved governance in the regulatory environment and the correction of market failures (public goods, externalities).

The adjustment to new economic and market conditions is made more difficult in rural areas by the imbalance of power between poorly organized agricultural producers and powerful public or private operators. This imbalance is largely related to producers’ limited access to information and education and to their relative lack of capacity to formulate objectives and define a strategic vision for development. Their participation in public debates on economic and political liberalization often remains symbolic and, in practice, decisions are made without them. Increasingly governments are aware of the importance of having farmers participate in agricultural policy making, and therefore they increasingly support RPO capacity building. Capacity building requires institutional frameworks that recognize farmers’ potential role, and mechanisms for them to voice concerns at the local, national, and international levels of policy formulation.

Rural Producer Organizations

In all rural societies, traditional organizations have an inward-oriented or “bonding” function to facilitate collective actions that mitigate the uncertainties of agricultural production and regulate relationships within the group. In contrast, formal producer organizations perform a “bridging” function to organize relationships between the group and the outside world. In the context of developing countries, RPOs typically include elements of traditional and formal organizations. They are rooted in local customs but organized on economic principles. Inclusion is characteristic in traditional groupings, where everyone is inherently a member, but formal producer organizations tend to be more exclusive. RPOs are membership organizations created by producers to provide services. They differ from NGOs, which also provide services to producers but are not necessarily membership based. RPOs can be local and serve only at village and inter-village levels, or they can operate at regional and national levels (for example, as unions and federations).