Farmers as entrepreneurs
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?
Volume 25 no.2 | June 2009
Table of contents:
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1 - 1
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2 - 3
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4 - 4Featured: Mr Sabbaiah and Ms Hampamma are small-scale farmers, pictured here in their sunflower field in the village of Maratha, in the Raichur district of Karnataka, India.
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5 - 5written by ILEIA editorial teamDuring the last few years the terms rural entrepreneurship, value chains and market participation have become buzz words in agricultural development. 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. The challenges faced by family farms in the South right now are unique in scope and scale.
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6 - 8written by Arno J. Maatman , Ted SchraderIf an entrepreneur is a creative person, or someone who takes risks and innovates, then small-scale farmers are definitely entrepreneurs. Their role as such, however, faces many challenges, of which accessing markets is only one of them. Facilitating rural entrepreneurship demands special efforts – especially if we consider the many changes which agriculture is currently going through worldwide.
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9 - 11written by Sofia NaranjoMirandiba, in north-eastern Brazil, provides few opportunities for family farmers to make a living. With long dry seasons, few local jobs and poor access to markets, it is difficult to meet a family’s needs. Men often migrate in search of work. However most return after finding they are still unable to escape poverty. This situation repeated itself for many generations. Now, an innovative government policy is breaking the cycle by giving family farmers the opportunity to earn a decent livelihood from their independent work in agriculture.
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12 - 13written by P.A. ChayaOnce, the women of Muddana Guddi, a village in Raichur district, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, suffered from drought and poverty. With no alternatives except cursing their own troubles, they used to migrate to neighbouring states for work. Now, they are earning their own livelihoods by running a business worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. The women collect readily available neem tree seeds, to produce and sell neem cake. They have been so successful that they received a UNDP national award.
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14 - 15
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15 - 15written by Paul Van MelePaul Van Mele has co-authored various articles in LEISA Magazine. When we asked him for reflections on these articles, he immediately mentioned the first one he sent to us, about weaver ants in Vietnam. Published in April 2002, work on weaver ants has since spread to Africa. Now governments, international research institutes and individual growers have become much more aware of the benefits of using weaver ants as biological pest control in fruit orchards.
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16 - 17written by Abraham LemlemWith more than 3.5 million animals, Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa. Milk production, however, is very low, and its per capita consumptionis lower than the African or the world’s average. This means that the potential demand is large. But farmers need to tackle different challenges in order to increaseproduction. One of the most important ones is to develop efficient marketing approaches. As seen in the northernprovince of Tigray, setting up co-operatives can be an important step forward in this direction.
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18 - 19written 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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20 - 21written by Mr. Stuart Ling , Kheuavanh PommathatIn 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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22 - 24written by Verina IngramHoney production is frequently promoted as a pro-poor income generation activity as it is accessible to many members of a rural community, has low start-up costs and requires little land or labour. But while apiculture (beekeeping) presents an opportunity for many African farmers, the potential to create a significant livelihood from selling honey often remains out of reach. Without access to a market and with limited transformation, the expected benefits do not materialise. These were the major issues considered by a small organisation in Cameroon, leading to results that were recognised by the SEED Awards.
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25 - 25written by Benoît Thierry , Emeline SchneiderThe Analanjirofo region in eastern Madagascar offers a unique and extremely wide range of agricultural products. Local production of cloves, lychees, vegetables, rice and honey represents a source of wealth. Despite this potential, the area’s poor farmers have to cope with many problems, most important of which are marketing their produce and finding permanent partnerships. Market Access Centres are being set up to address these problems for farmers, including bee-keepers.
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26 - 27A wide variety of articles about entrepreneurship arrived in our inbox. They all showed that certain conditions have to be met before it is possible to engage successfully in any entrepreneurial activity. We decided to take a glimpse at some of these conditions, by summarising some articles that we just did not have space to publish. They all add some specific details and case studies,...
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28 - 29written by Anders Peter PedersenMany types of fruit grow in the 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.
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30 - 31written by Victor Attuquaye Clottey , Gertjan BecxMany 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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32 - 33written by Stefano Padulosi , Stephen TarantoBioversity 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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34 - 35written 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. Some now speak of Rwanda’s “renaissance” and the development of highland rice is part of that story.
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36 - 37written 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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38 - 38written by Josphat K. WachiraMr George Kamau has succeeded in setting up a small business in Sipili, a remote village in Kenya. Noting the need for farmers to buy and sell their produce locally, he opened a small premises where he also sells organic farm inputs and other goods.
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39 - 39written by ILEIA editorial teamBiochar for environmental management: Science and technology, Standard bearers: Horticultural exports and private standards in Africa, Farmer First Revisited: Innovation for agricultural research and development, Course on agribusiness management for producers’ associations, The impact of Fair Trade and Knowledge to policy: Making the most of development research.
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40 - 41written by ILEIA editorial team
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42 - 42
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44 - 44
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