The Future of Agriculture: Debate the Experts @ OXFAM

Monday, December 10, 2012 - Friday, December 21, 2012

Online: blogs.oxfam.org/future-of-agriculture

Forecasts indicate world food production must grow at least fifty per cent by 2050, to feed a population of nine billion people. Can this be done in a way that eradicates hunger and preserves the environment? 

The second in Oxfam’s online discussion series will tackle this very question from Monday, December 10 to Friday December 21, at blogs.oxfam.org/future-of-agriculture.

Tree Product Value Chains in Africa: Sharing Innovations that Work for Smallholders

26-28 November 2012. Yaounde, Cameroon. Tree Product Value Chains in Africa: Sharing Innovations that Work for Smallholders.

This conference was a forum for a wide group of (inter)national stakeholders to learn and share knowledge, experience and innovations on emerging trends relating to the production, processing and marketing of tree products by smallholder farmers.

The conference was organised by the Agroforestry Tree Products for Africa (AFTP4A) project, financed by the Belgian Development Cooperation in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project contributes to improving participation and active involvement of poor farmers in agroforestry tree product value chains and markets in order to increase and diversify their incomes. 

The project followed the value chain approach and involved all economic actors who contributed directly to the production, processing, transport and commercialisation of a product up to the consumption stage.

Innovation System Perspective in Agriculture and Rural Development for smallholder farmers

19-21 November 2012. South Africa. Eleventh regional conference of the Southern and Eastern African Association of Farming Systems Research-Extension (SEAAFSRE). The conference, whose theme was ‘Innovation System Perspective in Agriculture and Rural Development for smallholder farmers’ was intended to share experiences and best practices in moving agriculture from subsistence to commercial among resource-constrained farmers in the region.

In particular, the conference shared practical experiences on the role innovation, agricultural training, research and extension can play in enhancing a value chain orientation in smallholder agriculture.

The conference was attended by individuals and organizations involved in Farming Systems Research-Extension (FSRE) work including farmers, policy makers, planners, trainers, researchers, advisory services providers, non-government organizations (NGOs), elected officials and donors. 

The objectives for the conference were:

• To share experiences on best farming systems research and extension practices and strategies for commercializing agriculture and reducing hunger and poverty. 
• To provide an opportunity for farmers, trainers, researchers, agricultural advisory and support service providers and elected officials to debate and learn together how they might individually and collectively make progress towards millennium targets in poverty, hunger and environment through innovations in smallholder farming systems. 

Outputs

• A profile of innovative farming systems research and extension opportunities for commercializing agriculture and reducing hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. 
• Peer reviewed proceedings of the conference detailing the achievements, lessons learnt and opportunities in the region. 

FAO Film Documents Seed Diversity and Climate Adaptation in Ethiopia

November 2012: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a short film that documents the ways Ethiopian smallholder farmers recognize and use seed diversity in their local farming practices to build resilience into their fields.

FAO's documentary, titled "Seeds of Diversity," gathers information on the kinds of seeds that farmers prefer and helps to create a greater understanding on the importance of preserving genetic diversity in seeds.

ICT and producer organizations - online forum 12 to 23 November

ICT and producer organizations - online forum 12 to 23 November

From 12/11/2012 to 23/11/2012 

Location: Online

Producer organizations play an important role in tackling the systemic causes of poverty, because they give farmers—men and women—a legitimate voice in shaping pro-poor rural policies.  Producer organizations can function more efficiently by using information communication technologies (ICT) to attract and retain a wider membership, generate more funds, and provide better services to their members. Documented benefits of ICT include improved connections to members, better accounting and administration, and stronger collective voice (From ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook module 8).

As the United Nation's International Year of the Cooperative comes to a close, join the e-Agriculture community and our subject matter experts in a discussion on the key issues that make ICT important for producer organizations, and the challenges that limit their full potential.

 

 Subject matter experts:

• Marie-Hélène Collion
• Alexander Flor, University of the Philippines Open University
• Riikka Rajalahti, World Bank
• Pierre Rondot, CIRAD
• John Rouse

This online forum will discuss the role ICT plays in producer organizations, from improved efficiency to networking to transfer of technical knowledge. Aware that organizations face limited resources, the discussion will look at priority areas for investing in ICT.  They will look for examples of whether ICT empowers or marginalizes women and smallholders in producer organizations, and the group will discuss the role of the public sector in supporting producer organizations’ uptake of ICT.

http://www.e-agriculture.org/forums/current-forum

Small Farmers – Big Business?

On 16-17 October, the European Commission is hosting EU Development Days, a two-day forum on international affairs and development cooperation that will see Heads of State, Nobel Prize laureates, business leaders, and development professionals meet to discuss some of the global issue that are at risk of slipping down the international agenda in the wake of the economic crisis.

17 October. This panel discussion was split into two parts:

1. Part 1 aimed to provide examples and learn lessons from inclusive business models where public and private sectors, donors and industry, have worked together to help suppliers gain access to, and benefit from, profitable market opportunities and innovative approaches. 
2. Part 2 attempted to identify key messages for donors/governments/companies in terms of policies and partnerships that will leverage private sector investment and engagement towards social and economic upgrading, food security, and sustainable agriculture. 

Panellists
Opening remarks :
- Allert van den Ham (NL), Chief Executive SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
- Guy Stinglhamber (BE), PIP & Coleacp Brussels Office Director
- Mohamed Ibn Chambas (GH), ACP Secretary-General at ACP Group of States

Panel discussion 1: Best practices and lessons learned in Agricultural Development
- Hans-Jürgen Mattern (DE), Vice President Strategic Quality Management, Metro Group
- Michael Anthony (GB), Head of Microinsurance and Food Security, Allianz AG
- Rashid Ally Mamu (TZ), Managing Director, Nyemo Investment Company
- Apollo Owuor (KE), Director for Agriculture and Corporate Affairs, Kenya Horticultural Exporters

Panel discussion 2: Should donor and company policies be revitalized?
-Kristian Schmidt (DK), Director Human Development Department, EU-DevCo
-Stephanie Barrientos (UK), Leader of Capturing the Gains Research Programme
-Frank van Ooijen (NL), Director for Sustainability at dairy multinational Frisland Campina
-Joe Cerrell (US), Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Europe Office
-Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana (CM), Minister of Trade of Cameroon
-Nathalie Olijslager, Head of International Markets, Ministry of Foreign Affairs , the Netherlands

For more information on this HLP, please visit: http://www.smallfarmersbigbusiness.org

Dynamics of agri-agencies programs on a new website

October 15, 2012. Farmers Fighting Poverty, now also online : a new website is launched and a new video illustrates Agri-agencies' work.

"Family farmers all around the globe are fed up with the idea that governments can only help them with social programs! What we need, is the recognition by all stakeholders that family farmers in developing countries are economic actors, just like their colleagues in the more developed countries."

Family farmers claim a favourable business climate. That’s why a dozen of agri-agencies in Western Europe, Senegal, Asia, and Canada have joined their forces under the umbrella of Farmers Fighting Poverty.

Discover the dynamics of agri-agencies programs on the new website. This website has been realised with the support of the European Union. Afdi, Trias and Agriterra are fully responsible for the content of the website.

 

European Development Days: High level panel: Growing a Better Future for Farmers

On 16-17 October, the European Commission will be hosting EU Development Days, a two-day forum on international affairs and development cooperation that will see Heads of State, Nobel Prize laureates, business leaders, and development professionals meet to discuss some of the global issue that are at risk of slipping down the international agenda in the wake of the economic crisis.

16 October 2012. To improve information sharing and promote networking, the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in collaboration with FAO, AgriCord and other partners organised a high-level panel in Brussels in the context of the European Development Days.

Various panelists gave their perspectives on how they see the future of farmers in the context of new drivers affecting food production, trade and the environment.Among the topics that were discussed are: how policy factors influence agricultural production and the nutritional status of the poor in developing countries, how small-scale farmers can increase their productivity to feed a growing population, the economic drivers behind key policy decisions, the new policy challenges affecting food production and the role of traditional and emerging actors in the food system.

The objectives of the panel were to 

1. raise awareness on existing and emerging challenges on food policies 
2. promote the exchange of information and expertise from various parts of the world, especially from developing countries 
3. feed into the debate various perspectives on policy options, which have the potential to improve the future of farmers.

Speakers came from different parts of the world, highlighting unique experiences: Graziano Da Silva, Director General, FAO, addressed the audience from Rome in the context of World Food Day; Richard Greene, Mission Director in Bangladesh, USAID; Ruth Rawling, Vice-President Corporate Affairs, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Cargill; Piet Vanhemtsche, President, Agricord; Kalilou Sylla, Executive Secretary, ROPPA, Panafrican Farmer's Organisation, PAFO; Elisangela dos Santos Araujo, Federação Nacional dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras na Agricultura Familiar (FETRAF), Brazil.
The panel was webstreamed and is available to watch here.

• AgriCord factsheet - Farmers Fighting Poverty
• Geopolitics of food briefing
• Food price volatility briefing

Optimising the performance of producers' organisations

17 Sep 2012 - 28 Sep 2012. Location: Wageningen, The Netherlands. Organisation: Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation, Agriterra.

Harnessing the potential of agriculture to reduce poverty and to revitalise rural areas requires the involvement of producers and their organisations in order to build people-centered and sustainable agricultural development models. 

The course perceived producers as small entrepreneurs and investigates the role of Producers’ Organizations (POs) as autonomous development actors that face specific challenges. The course concentrated on strategic issues and gave ample attention to innovative institutional arrangements that link small-scale farmers to markets and policy development, in view of inclusive rural economic development.

The course was structured according to five major themes:

1. Contextual analysis: evolution of POs and farmers’ movements
2. Organisational strengthening : internal organisation and management of POs
3. Institutional arrangements: competition, collaboration and positioning of POs in the agricultural arena, with specific attention for market participation strategies
4. Economic services: options and tools for sustainable economic service delivery to members
5. Representation services: options and tools for participatory policy development, lobby & advocacy and public accountability.

Course brochure: PDF file 

Related:

15 - 19 October 2012. Kenya, East Africa. A course for professionals promoting farmer-inclusive agribusiness

This October 2012 course is the first in a series of three one-week courses given in East Africa – focusing on organized farmers as partners in agribusiness. The courses are referred to as one course : OPPO – organized farmers as partners in agribusiness. 

They address how East African farmers, through collective action of their organizations, can better access agro-inputs and credit, manage their production, create added value and access more remunerative markets. The courses thereby perceive farmers as autonomous entrepreneurs and their organizations as farmers’ business supporters. Participants will learn about farmer entrepreneurship, collective action of organized farmers and farmer-inclusive business models in the East African context. And they will exercise practical approaches and tools for promoting competitive, sustainable and farmer-inclusive agribusiness models.

Objectives:

• reflect upon farmer entrepreneurship and farmer-inclusive agribusiness development, with specific attention for economic services farmers’ organizations can provide to their members; 
• review key challenges that farmers face, and identify options to address these through collective action; 
• are capable to use operational approaches and practical tools for facilitating the performance and market engagement of farmers’ business organizations;
• analyze internal governance of farmers’ organizations and discuss organizational strengthening;analyze farmers’ relations with sourcing companies, banks and micro-finance institutions, input dealers, research and extension and other stakeholders, and learn about options to improve these relations; 
• discuss experiences with farmers’ positioning in the external business and policy environment; 
• Explore modalities for facilitating farmer entrepreneurship and alternative intervention strategies for external support to farmers and their organizations.

Small farm commercialisation in Africa: A guide to issues and policies

February 2012. Policy Brief of Futures Agriculture. (8 pages). Small farmers in Africa have long been engaged with markets — for produce, inputs such as fertiliser, credit, labour, land and information. Opportunities to do so are increasing with urbanisation and better roads linking villages to cities, making questions that arise about smallholder commercialisation all the more important. Expectations about process and outcomes differ considerably.

What does the evidence show? How do small farms commercialise? What are the outcomes? Are the fears of undesirable outcomes justified? And what should policy-makers be doing to encourage better outcomes? This briefing reports the highlights of an extensive review of the literature on commercialisation of small farms in Africa.

Small farm commercialisation in Africa: A guide to issues and policies

Sustainable Agricultural Productivity Growth: Small Family Farms

Global agriculture will face multiple challenges over the coming decades. It must produce more food to feed a growing world population.  It must also contribute to overall development and poverty alleviation in many developing countries.

And in case that was not enough to contend with, global agriculture must also confront the issues connected to competition for finite land and water resources, adapt to climate change, and contribute to preserving biodiversity and restoring fragile ecosystems.

Early in 2012 Mexico (as G20 President) invited international organizations to examine practical actions that could be undertaken to sustainably improve agricultural productivity growth, in particular on small family farms.

The preparation of this report, coordinated by the FAO and the OECD, is a collaborative undertaking by Bioversity International, CGIAR Consortium, FAO, IFAD, IFPRI, IICA, OECD, UNCTAD, UN High Level Task Force on the Food Security Crisis, WFP, World Bank, and WTO.

The report invites G20 countries to engage in a medium- to long-term review of policies fostering sustainable productivity growth, beginning with their own food and agriculture sectors.

Kenya’s innovative agricultural micro-insurance program for smallholder farmers in Kenya wins award

14 June 2012. London. Kilimo Salama, a partnership between the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and UAP Insurance, won the Financial Times’ award for Technology in Sustainable Finance, recognizing their groundbreaking work to provide smallholder farmers with access to insurance cover using innovative technology and approaches.

The FT’s Award for Technology in Sustainable Finance recognizes organizations and initiatives that are addressing the scarcity of essential goods and services across society and those that demonstrate leadership and innovation in addressing environmental, social and corporate governance considerations in business.

Kilimo Salama (Kiswahili for ‘safe farming’) is an innovative, pay-as-you-plant, index-based, micro-insurance program for smallholder farmers in Kenya and the first in the world to use a mobile network-based platform and on-the-ground solar weather stations to provide smallholder farmers with low-cost insurance policies.“When it comes to drought, most farmers have no choice but to simply pray for rain. And if the rains don't come, the crops don't grow. At a time of global change, Kilimo Salama is giving farmers more options so they can meet these challenges and prosper,” said Marco Ferroni, Executive Director of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. 


Kilimo Salama has seen an eventful second year marked by severe weather and explosive farmer demand for insurance to mitigate current and future weather risk. Kilimo Salama has just completed one of the largest index insurance payouts ever experienced on the continent has insured nearly 64,000 farmers for the next season. 

They are currently making plans to expand to other countries in the region beginning with Rwanda. 

 

In Kenya, small-scale farmers are particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, often losing their entire investment when droughts or floods destroy their crops. Crop insurance is usually too costly for such operations. But a Swiss-based foundation is now offering low cost insurance through a program called "Kilimo Salama," or "safe farming." Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from the western Kenyan town of Eldoret.

Rose Goslinga, Technical Coordinator of the Agricultural Insurance Initiative, Kilimo Salama, speaks at the Power of Information: New Technologies for Philanthropy and Development conference. This conference was co-hosted by the Indigo Trust, Omidyar Network and Institute for Philanthropy. In this video, Rose talks about her work in the field of crop insurance via mobile phone.

Related:Preliminary List of Innovative Financing Mechanisms (IFMs) for Agriculture, Food and nutrition

World Farmers Organization General Assembly

June 6 – 9, 2012. Rome. World Farmers Organization General Assembly. The objective of the GA was to provide an opportunity to discuss WFO‘s statutory issues; as well as offer the possibility to farmers associations to discuss and share experiences in agriculture related key issues (trade, food security, climate change, education and awareness raising programs); sharing experiences on outreach activities, special programs, services, products; collecting best practices and case studies; stimulate cooperation and partnership among WFO’s members and agriculture related organizations; build Interactive platform for sharing experiences and cooperation network.

Presentations from Africa: 

• What is the enabling environment needed for thriving Producer Organizations and Cooperatives, Mr. Jervis Zimba, President, ZNFU, Lusaka 
• Practical role and challenges of Farmer Organizations in developing Countries, Mr. Nduati Kariuki Chairman, Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP), Nairobi 
• Ensuring food security in sub-Saharan Africa, a way through, Dr. Martin Eweg, AFAAS board, South Africa 

PAEPARD related:
Agriculture Research for Development: GFAR, GCARD and Farmers’ Organizations, Mr. Thomas Price, Senior Officer, Agricultural Innovation and Society, FAO, Rome

E-mail conference on "Ensuring the full participation of family farmers in agricultural innovation systems

4 June to 1 July 2012. FAO hosted a moderated e-mail conference  on "Ensuring the full participation of family farmers in agricultural innovation systems: Key issues and case studies".

The UN General Assembly has declared 2014 to be the International Year of Family Farming and has invited FAO to facilitate implementation of the International Year, in collaboration with its partners. Among its initiatives for the International Year, FAO is planning to publish a major study on family farming and Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in 2014 in the State of Food and Agriculture series, which is FAO’s major annual flagship publication.

Agricultural innovation systems are systems of individuals, organizations and enterprises that bring new products, processes and forms of organization into social and economic use to achieve food security, economic development and sustainable natural resource management. AIS include a multitude of potential actors, such as producer organizations, research organizations, extension and advisory services, universities and educational bodies, governments and civil society organizations, co-coordinating bodies, individual farmers and farm laborers, and the private sector (including traders, processors, supermarkets etc.).

The e-mail conference is open to everyone, is free and will be moderated.

The Background Document to this FAO e-mail conference is available here.

Meeting the needs of smallholder farming families also provides the central theme of the GCARD RoadMap, which sets out the systematic changes required to transform and strengthen innovation systems to better meet the needs of resource-poor smallholders around the world.  Results from the FAO e-mail consultation will help inform discussion in The Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD 2): “Foresight and partnership for innovation and impact on small-holder livelihoods” on practical actions underway and that are required to implement these systematic changes. The GCARD 2 will be organized in Punta del Este, Uruguay, 29 October – 1 November 2012, more information is available on the GFAR website.  The Pre-Registrationfor the GCARD 2012 Conference is now open.

Outcomes from the email consultation and the GCARD Conference will inform preparation of the major FAO study in 2014, as well as help to build cooperation around key forward-looking agendas and facilitate planning of joint actions among all AIS stakeholders to deliver large scale development outcomes.

PAEPARD contribution:
Moderated conference on agricultural innovation systems:  a selection of the most significant contributions, relevant for PAEPARD.

·         In order to identify a pool of brokers on the African continent we launched a call for agricultural innovation facilitators (AIF) 1 year ago. We were at that time not aware that ASARECA was in the process of the creation of a pool of well-skilled platform facilitators for innovation platforms under their Farmer Empowerment for Innovation in Smallholder Agriculture (FEISA) project.

o   203 applicants submitted their CV to PAEPARD.

o   The screening of the CVs was based on the geographical origin (country) and the profile of the applicant (research, farmer organisation (FO), private sector, nongovernmental organisation (NGO), ministry, consultant or other).

o   Not surprisingly 160 were male applicants and 43 female.

o   86 applicants had a [agricultural) research profile, 36 applicants worked for an ngo,  21 for a farmer organization, 17 consultants, 16 from a Ministry, 14 private, 6 extensionists, 4 other.

o   But the career path revealed that the  basic training of the majority of all profiles originated in agricultural research.

o   A past training (in Montpellier or in Wageningen) with the International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) was a strong reference for the selection.

We are currently performing an evaluation of the brokers' facilitation in 10 ARD consortia from the consortium's coordinator perspective and the AIFs' perspective. And we realize that a technically sound agronomist with facilitation training is a rare gem. In the agricultural research community, we only managed to identify few good experts in group dynamics, adult training, moderation, knowledge management, etc.

We also realized that because (so far) the dominant PAEPARD partnership model has been the AIF (broker) functioning in a project context, this had some important limitations in terms of innovation. The stress is too much on project innovation instead of system wide innovation by involving several societal actors, including farmers, supply and processing industry, civic advocacy organization, and policy makers. The reason why we opted first for the project partnership model is obvious: we wanted to link the brokering to something tangible: the submission of a research proposal to a funding opportunity, as a milestone of the consortium facilitation (a process of minimum one year).

The requirement for the facilitator to be able to play an independent role within the consortium was essential. Preferably, the facilitator should not be a member of the lead institution (the applicant), to ensure a balance of influence on the consortium. The AIF needed nevertheless to be a person [all] the consortium members felt comfortable with. We wanted the choice of an AIF to be done through a consultation between the consortium and the PAEPARD-trained AIF.  But in one case the AIF with an ngo profile found it difficult to impose her authority towards the researchers involved in the consortium, and in another case AIFs with a research profile failed in their facilitation - not having "the spirit and training for facilitation and brokerage".

Conclusion: testing theoretical concepts into practice, but also to translate practical dilemmas into systemic lessons is a major challenge. [Platform for African - European Partnership in ARD]

New international land deals database reveals rush to buy up Africa

27 April 2012. guardian.co.uk. New international land deals database reveals rush to buy up Africa. World's largest public database lifts lid on the extent and secretive nature of the global demand for land.

Almost 5% of Africa's agricultural land has been bought or leased by investors since 2000, according to an international coalition of researchers and NGOs that has released the world's largest public database of international land deals.

The database, lifts the lid on a decade of secretive deals struck by governments, investors and speculators seeking large tracts of fertile land in developing countries around the world.

The past five years have seen a flood of reports of investors snapping up land at rock-bottom prices in some of the world's poorest countries. But, despite growing concern about the local impacts of so-called "land grabs", the lack of reliable data has made it difficult to pin down the real extent and nature of the global rush for land.

Researchers estimate that more than 200m hectares (495m acres) of land – roughly eight times the size of the UK – were sold or leased between 2000 and 2010. Details of 1,006 deals covering 70.2m hectares mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America were published by the Land Matrix project, an international partnership involving five major European research centres and 40 civil society and research groups from around the world.

It is the first time a comprehensive list of international land deals has been collected and made public. The database relies on a wide variety of sources – including media reports, academic research and field-based investigations – to add detail to a global phenomenon notoriously shrouded in secrecy.

A separate report published on 25 April 2012 by the International Land Coalition, the NGO Global Witness, and the US-based Oakland Institute, denounced the "secretive culture" around large-scale land deals, and demanded governments and businesses disclose contracts and detailed information about potential risks and impacts of land-based investments.

"Far too many people are being kept in the dark about massive land deals that could destroy their homes and livelihoods," says Megan MacInnes, senior land campaigner at Global Witness. "Companies should have to prove they are doing no harm, rather than communities with little information or power having to prove that a land deal is negatively affecting them."

Small scale farmers on the priorities and governance of agricultural research for development in West Africa

CLICK TO ENLARGE
High level policy dialogue between the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and small scale farmers on the priorities and governance of agricultural research for development in West Africa

Published:

16 Apr 2012 - IIED 

Areas:

Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Benin 

Topics:

Agriculture & Food, Participation   

This photo story highlights key moments in a policy dialogue on agricultural research for development that involved small scale farmers and representatives of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Over one hundred people participated in the policy dialogue. This unprecedented event was chaired by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and took place on 1st to 3rd February 2012 in Accra (Ghana).

Markets, Smallholders and Empowerment

This issue of Capacity.org aims to refocus attention on the critical but largely neglected issue of producer agency: that is, the capacity of producers to make informed choices, and to act on those choices.

Drawing on several detailed case studies - contract farming arrangements that benefit or exploit farmers; guidelines for addressing farm labour interests; and the role of women on small-scale farms - the journal's contributors offer practical guidance on how to strike the right balance between "economic and political empowerment."

Download Issue 44 (PDF, 700 kb)

The IFAD Farmers' Forum

20 - 21 February. Rome. About 95 delegates from farmers' and fishers' networks, and an equal number of observers, attended the Farmers' Forum. The forum discussed a.o. the importance to invest in strengthening the technical, managerial and organizational capacity of FOs, as well as their governance mechanisms and leadership skills. IFAD and other development organizations are playing a role in this area.

Various concrete solutions have been proposed as a way forward for FOs, in many cases by drawing on successful experiences that have potential for replication. It was suggested that IFAD and other development institutions provide a combination of loans and grants to financially support FOs. This could build their capacity while making FOs more responsible as owners of their own path towards sustainability.

Djibo Bagna of the West African producers' network ROPPA listed a series of specific policy questions that must be answered as a prerequisite for rural transformation. For example, how will smallholders gain access to credit and markets? And how can we empower rural women and youth, and build the capacities of producers' organizations? "The road ahead is still very long," said Bagna.

Background:

The Farmers' Forum is an emerging, bottom-up process of consultation and dialogue between small farmers and rural producers' organizations, IFAD and governments, focused on rural development and poverty reduction. Fully aligned with IFAD's strategic objectives, the Forum is rooted in concrete partnership and collaboration at the country and regional level. Engagement with rural organizations at the field level and dialogue at the international level are articulated as mutually reinforcing processes. Following consultations at the national and regional level, the Farmers' Forum meets every two years for a global consultation, in conjunction with the Governing Council of IFAD.

Sustainable smallholder agriculture: Feeding the world, protecting the planet

Centre-stage events

Wednesday 22 February

What promise will Rio herald for agriculture?” A conversation with Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda (FANRPAN)

Side events of the Farmers’ Forum

Thursday, 23 February 2012 (IFAD HQ)

14:00 - 16:00	“Organic farmers organizations: empowering farmers and promoting sustainable rural development” organised by IFOAM. – Oval Room A English | French | Spanish
14:00 - 16:00	“Linking research to advocacy in farmer organizations: building on country experiences”. organised by AgriNatura and the ESFIM project. – Oval Room B English | French | Spanish
14:00 - 16:00	“The role of livestock for farmers coping with environmental and social challenges of the future”. organised by Vétérinaires Sans Frontières  – Europa. - Room C 500 5th floor wing C English | French | Spanish
16:30 - 18:30	“Strengthening farmers' organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa– the Farmer Organization Support Centre in Africa” (FOSCA). organised by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). – Oval Room A English | French | Spanish
16:30 - 18:30	“World Agricultures Watch”: FAO/CIRAD – organised by WAW secretariat at FAO. – Oval Room B English | French | Spanish
16:30 - 18:30	“International Year of Cooperatives”: jointly organised by IFAD, WFP and FAO. – Room C 500 5th floor wing C English | French | Spanish

Entretien avec Moussa Para Diallo, Président de la Confédération Nationale des Organisations des Paysans de Guinée (CNOPG), dans le cadre du Forum Paysan 2012, FIDA, Rome


4th global meeting of the Farmers' Forum . Opening session, part I

The Farmer Organization Support Centre in Africa (FOSCA)

FOSCA was established by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in 2010, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation (BMGF) in order to develop the managerial, organizational and technical capacity of farmer organizations (FOs) by linking them with service providers (SPs) that focus on demand driven and income-enhancing services. FOSCA is expected to contribute to the overall AGRA vision of increasing smallholder incomes and livelihoods through effective FOs capable of delivering on the needs of their members by:

1. identifying and engaging a robust network of FOs in target countries and identifying income-enhancing needs of their members
2. Increasing and improving the supply of relevant services available to FOs to respond to their needs
3. Linking FOs with service providers and private sector players in value-chains to enhance their capacity for effective service delivery (market-driven income gains) for their members
4. Evaluate outcomes, document lessons, and build the knowledge base on FOs that would promote learning and best practice in Sub Sahara Africa (SSA).

Mercy Karanja works with extension and farmer organizations at
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and guides the strategy and
grants for the foundation’s work with small holder farmers.

Expected Outcomes
During this initial four-year program, FOSCA plans to:

1. Reach 220,000 smallholder farmers with income and production improvements services
2. Improve the capacities of at least 70 FOs based on a set of criteria around gender, market-orientation, smallholder membership, and income generation.
3. Expand the smallholder membership of 50% of the target FOs by 25-50% during the project term.

Target Countries in First Phase
In order to maximize opportunities for collaboration and synergies, FOs prioritized by FOSCA are partners or potential partners in existing AGRA and Bill Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) grants. The initial pilot activities will be those working with World Food Program’s (WFP) Purchase for Progress (P4P), AGRA’s Markets Access and Soil Health Programs.

Geographic Coverage:
FOSCA will focus on the 4 Priority One countries of AGRA in this initial Phase:

• Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania

FOSCA will gradually expand its activities to other AGRA target countries as opportunities to collaborate emerge:

• Burkina Faso, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda and Zambia (Partnership with Swedish Cooperation),
• Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria (Partnership with BMGF)

Land tenure and international investments in agriculture

Recent literature that estimates the magnitude of land grabbing and/or explores what is driving it, how it is affecting small-scale farmers and what can be done, include “Land tenure and international investments in agriculture” (by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, 2011), “Land and power: the growing scandal surrounding the new wave of investments in land” (Bertram Zagema, 2011), “Land grabbing in Africa and the new politics of food” (Future Agricultures policy brief 41, 2011) and “The great land grab: Rush for world’s farmland threatens food security for the poor” (S. Daniel and A. Mittal, 2009). Land grabbing in Africa: a review of the impacts and policy responses (Oxfam, 2011)

Literature that presents alternatives to international land acquisitions include the “Access to land and the right to food” report (O. de Schutter, 2010), “Responding to land grabbing and promoting responsible investment in agriculture” (IFAD, 2011) and “Alternatives to land acquisitions: Agricultural investment and collaborative business models” (edited by L. Cotula and R. Leonard, 2010). Both the “Development” journal (volume 54, issue 1, 2011) and “The Journal of Peasant Studies” (volume 38, issue 2, 2011) have dedicated a special on land grabbing, and the website of the “International Conference on Global Land Grabbing” (held this year by Future Agricultures) contains articles that cover several aspects of the topic. “A historical perspective on the global land rush” (by the International Land Coalition, 2011) relates the current wave of land grabs to the past legacy of colonisation and neo-liberal reforms.