Farmers as Entrepreneurs- 农民与市场
Small-scale farmers and their support institutions are becoming more convinced that there is little future for them unless they become more entrepreneurial in their approach to farming.
Which means that they produce increasingly for markets - local, regional as well as global, and with a profit motive. There's nothing new about rural entrepreneurship. But the challenges faced by family farms in the South right now are unique in scope and scale. What options are there for small-scale farmers to become more entrepreneurial?
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3 - 6written by Arno J. Maatman , Ted Schrader“I did something that challenged the banking world. Conventional banks look for the rich; we look for the absolutely poor. All people are entrepreneurs, but many don’t have the opportunity to find that out.” (Muhammad Yunus)
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6 - 8written by Awudu NgutteAwudu Ngutte works as a project co-ordinator for INAPA, a small organisation based in Buea, Cameroon. He has been receiving LEISA Magazine since 2004, sharing it with his colleagues and other organisations. He was particularly interested in issue 23.2, “Securing seed supply”, and in the story describing the organisation of community seed banks. He felt that this was an idea that could be replicated in his region. Working together with farmers, extension agents and authorities, he showed that this is possible.
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9 - 11This article provides introduction to the functions of Japanese Agricultural Cooperatives (JAC) over issues on JAC's interaction with food producers, processers, and retailers and technological direction.
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12 - 14In Laos, farmers get better prices for their products and more control over value chains when they join together to form and invest in their own agro-enterprises. Since 2007, 18 agro-enterprises have been formed.
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15 - 17written by Michael LoevinsohnOne of the first volumes of what was then known as the ILEIA Newsletter described how farmers in Rwanda were working with new ideas and approaches to rice production, including some used by Asian farmers. Michael Loevinsohn showed how farmers, through their experimentation, had managed to cultivate rice at altitudes well above normal levels. Much has happened since that article was published, including the terrible events which began in April 1994 and which shocked the world. But the seasons of life continue.
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18 - 20written by Salibo SoméProviding financial services is one of the key elements that can help farmers put their ideas into practice. Various organisations are involved in finance programmes, providing credit. Many of them, however, find it difficult to operate in distant villages, and to provide these services to small-scale farmers. Experience has shown that the provision of credit needs to be complemented with additional efforts – such as training on how to efficiently use the money which is made available. But the provision of credit can have very positive results, even if on a small scale. Some encouraging results have been seen in Burkina Faso, that may work in other settings as well.
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21 - 23written by Anders P. PedersenMany types of fruit grow in teh Uluguru mountains in Tanzania. And the sunshine needed to dry them is plentiful and free. The combination of these facts could mean a good business for farmers. But it is not so simple. Even the most entrepreneurial and dedicated of people will still have plenty of hurdles to overcome. To sell a bag of dried mangoes, you need not only preservatives and packaging, but also quite a few official permits and certificates.
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24 - 26Bioversity International is running several projects aimed at creating marketing options for the crops grown in the Central Andes. These activities focus on strengthening the linkages between producers and the local and international markets, and also between farming communities and the tourism sector. The overall objective is to support the development of new tools for income generation for rural and urban areas of countries like Bolivia.
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27 - 28Current collaboration between livestock leading enterprises and farmers is rather unstable and fragile. Most enterprises and farmers don’t even sign purchase and sales contract because both of them are opportunists. When the market price is higher than the contract price, the famers tend to resell their product the market. However when the market price becomes lower than the contract price, the enterprises tend to break the contract and purchase from the market. None of them resort to legal action for the breaches because they can’t afford the additional cost. This results in poor control of product quality and quantity. This article suggests the government to establish a joint -profit institutional mechanism that helps to improve the livestock industry.
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29 - 32written by Ren JianIn recent years tea price in Mengsong area has dropped from the price of 200 RMB/kg to 20~ 30 RMB/kg due to the lack of competitiveness with main stram market. Sponsored by Misereor Foundation alongside with the support by CBIK ecologial agriculture project, 45 farmer households in 10 villages established Acah Old-tea-tree Famers Cooperatives approved by Jinghong municipility. The farmers cooperatives aims at organizing farmers group, improving the tea quality and production process and developing the sale of Acah tea in the tea market. Lectures and trainees about ecological agriculture are provided. They have designed the product logo representing Acah eco tea, hoping to increase their competitivess in the tea market.
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33 - 34Many current global policies propose that farmers can get out of poverty by being (better) linked to markets. Many professionals think that improving conditions along the whole chain stimulates farmers to become more entrepreneurial and gain a better income. Does an emphasis on value indeed lead to farmers becoming entrepreneurial? And is it reduction in rural areas?
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