Farmer organization, collective action and market access in Meso-America

Abstract

The global agricultural economy is changing. Commodity prices are declining, and producers increasingly supply complex value chains. There is growing interest in how farmers can benefit from emerging market opportunities. Farmers are encouraged to produce high value crops and engage in value-adding activities such as agro-processing. Farmer organization and collective action are often seen as key factors in enhancing farmers' access to markets. Often too little attention is directed at a) the most appropriate types of organization, b) whether the public and/or private sector is best placed to support their formation, and c) the conditions necessary for ensuring their economic viability. This paper reports on research in Mexico and Central America that explored these issues for commodity maize and high value vegetables respectively. The benefits of farmer organization are more evident in the vegetable sector characterized by high transaction costs associated with market access. The research suggests that farmer organizations established by and directly linked to supermarkets may be more economically sustainable as opposed to organizations supported by non-governmental organizations. However, the most representative vegetable producer organizations in both Honduras and El Salvador include fewer than 5 percent of total horticultural producers. This is due to producer organizations' limited business skills and non-replicable organizational models for linking producers to markets. There is less incentive for maize farmers to organize themselves to access output markets as the transaction costs associated with market access are relatively low: there are so many buyers and sellers that farmer organizations would have little impact on, for example, prices. The benefits of farmer organization are clearer when it comes to accessing credit, seed, and fertilizer. Farmer organization is a critical factor in making markets work for the poor particularly in high value products, but the role and timing of the substantial public and private investment needed to establish and maintain these organizations is poorly understood.

Exploring Wheat Value Chain Focusing on Market Performance, Post-Harvest loss, and Supply Chain Management in Ethiopia: The Case of Arsi to Finfinnee Market Chain

“…Many scholarly works (Vorst et al, 1998;Van der Vorst et al, 2007;Stank et al, 1999;Power, 2005;Mena & Stevens, 2010) identified the role of food supply chain management as a means of developing trustful partnerships in foods chains and the role of trust for effectiveness of supply chain management. A well-established supply chain management system has potential to improve benefit share among the chain actors and overall market performances (Hellin et al, 2009;Taylor, 2005). Similarly, some authors (Kummu et al, 2012;Lipinski et al, 2013) noted the role of supply chain management in reducing food losses in food value chains.…”

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“…Hal ini bahkan telah menjadi faktor utama yang menyebabkan kegagalan pelaksanaan program secara keseluruhan (PSEKP, 2006). Banyak studi membuktikan bahwa tidak mudah membangun organisasi petani (Hellin et al, 2007), karena petani cenderung merasa lebih baik tidak berorgansiasi (Stockbridge et al, 2003).…”

“…Pengorganisasian petani baik sebagai pembudidaya, pengolah, maupun pelaku pemasaran; membutuhkan pemahaman secara sosiologis yang mendalam yaitu keorganisasian seperti apa yang sesungguhnya sesuai bagi mereka. Menghadapi situasi ini, keterlibatan aparat pemerintah tampaknya harus dilakukan secara bijak dan menggunakan basis keilmuan yang cukup (Hellin et al, 2007).…”

“…Hal ini bahkan telah menjadi faktor utama yang menyebabkan kegagalan pelaksanaan program secara keseluruhan (PSEKP, 2006). Banyak studi membuktikan bahwa tidak mudah membangun organisasi petani (Hellin et al, 2007), karena petani cenderung merasa lebih baik tidak berorgansiasi (Stockbridge et al, 2003).Akar penyebabnya adalah karena kurang dihargainya inisiatif lokal atau proses yang tidak terdesentralisasi (Taylor dan Mckenzie, 1992), pendekatan yang seragam (blue print approach) (Uphof, 1986), serta kurang mengedepankan partisipasi dan dialog (Amien, 2005). Partisipasi yang berlangsung masih bersifat searah atau baru sebatas mobilisasi.…”

Reaching the rural poor through agricultural cooperatives in Mongolia

“…Numerous studies have tried to assess the extent onto which cooperatives are inclusive (Bernard and Taffesse, 2012;Fischer and Qaim, 2012). For instance, it has been found that human and social capital is closely linked to the extent of membership in such organizations (Hellin et al, 2009;Karli et al, 2006;Francesconi and Heerink, 2010). Some authors point out that poor members are often disadvantaged due to their lack of essential assets such as education, organizational skills or financial capacity (Hulme and Shepherd, 2003).…”