OPPO Workbook

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ANNEX 1-10

Optimising the Performance of Producers’ Organisations (OPPO)

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Towards a Farmer Inclusive Business Model

About CTA

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For more information on CTA, visit www.cta.int

About WCDI

Headquartered at the heart of the Dutch agricultural sector in the Netherlands, the Wageningen Centre of Development Innovation offers a unique interaction between capacity development and project implementation. Our aim is to bring knowledge into action. Therefore, we offer a range of services, all of which are designed to help our partners and clients make progress towards sustainable and inclusive development. www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Research-Institutes/centre-for-development-innovation.htm

About IFAD

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference.

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Table of Contents

Annex 1: Guidelines Tool 1 - Your farmer-inclusive agribusiness development case3Annex 2: Guidelines Tool 2 – Profiling Farmers29Annex 3: Guidelines Tool 3 – Capital Pentagon (Farmers’ resource endowment)32Annex 4: Guidelines Tool 4 – Assessing and improving the Governance, Management and Performance (GMP) of a Farmers Organisation34Annex 5: Guidelines Tool 5 - Value chain mapping and analysis46Annex 6: Guidelines Tool 6 – Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis50Annex 7: Guidelines Tool 7 – Strategic orientations and planning for improving farmers’ performance and income52Annex 8: Guidelines Additional Tool 8 – Collective Action – What Farmers Organisations can do70Annex 9: Guidelines Additional OPPO tool 9 – Business Model Canvas75Annex 10: Guidelines Additional OPPO Tool 10 – Principles for Inclusive Business – Assessment of Supplier-Buyer Relations86

Annex

Annex 1: Guidelines Tool 1 - Your farmer-inclusive agribusiness development case

Step A

Defining your farmer-inclusive agribusiness development case

Production zone, agro-ecological conditions and farming system

This chapter introduces the production zone, its population, the agro-ecological conditions and farming systems. Replace the explanations and questions (in red) with your answers (in black).

Production zone and population

Farmers are linked to the land. For actively engaging with farmers, it is important to define the geographical scope of your case.

Aim: Showing the geographical location of your case.

Guiding questions:

· Where is the production zone located? (for instance: northern or southern part of the country, a certain province, a district, an agro-ecological zone, an island, ...).

· What are the main features of the production zone? (you may think of rivers, towns, road infrastructure, population density, …)

· What is the size of the production zone (km2)?

· What is the size of the arable land and of the cultivated land (in km2 or percentage)?

· If possible, can you add a map of the production zone, showing the geographical location?

Max 150 words + map (if possible)

Agro-ecological conditions and environmental change

Agro-ecological conditions strongly determine farmers’ activities, as well as the potential for improving production.

Aim: Describing the main agro-ecological characteristics of the production zone of your case

Guiding questions:

· What are the agro-ecological characteristics of the production zone? Think of the following elements: rainfall, production season(s), soils, arable land, cultivated land, altitude, slopes, pastures, forests, rivers and lakes, groundwater, irrigation, wind, climate change, etc.)?

· Does the production zone has certain advantages for producing certain commodities? Why?

· What environmental changes are observed in the production zone?

· Soil depletion

· Erosion

· Deforestation

· Rainfall (distribution / availability)

· Climate (hot/ cold/ wind/ .... details)

· Water availability

· Pest and disease prevalence….

· How do these environmental changes influence agricultural production and the local economy?

Max 150 words

Farming systems

Farmers’ production systems are generally diverse. Farmers may have different (field and horticultural) crops, different animals (cattle, small ruminants, fish) and trees (agroforestry, fruit trees). This is important for sustainable production, household food security, risk spreading, market risk management, and other reasons.

Aim: Providing an overview of the diversity of farmers’ activities and produce, and describing the main farming system(s) of the production zone (maximum of 300 words)

Guiding questions:

· Which crops, trees, animals are generally found on the farms in the production zone?

· What is the main farming system: what are the most important commodities in the farmers’ production system? E.g. do farmers focus on certain crops, trees or animals? Are these produced mainly for food or for cash? Or both?

· What are main production modalities?

· Rain-fed production, irrigated production, or co-existence of both?

· What is the level of mechanization? Consider continuum from fully manual to fully mechanized production?

· Conventional production, organic production? Or co-existence of both?

· Do farmers tend to diversify their farming systems? Or is there a tendency towards specialization?

· What are the reasons for diversification or specialization?

· Do small and large farmers have different farming systems and strategies?

Max 150 words

Farmers and Fishers, socio-economic conditions and producers’ organisation

This chapter introduces the farmers of the production zone. It first describes the general characteristics and composition of the farming households. It then briefly develops the socio-economic conditions and the organisation of farmers.

Farmer population

To situate the case further, it is important to position and understand the farmer households in the context of the (rural) population of the selected production zone.

Aim: Presenting the farmer households in the selected production zone

Guiding questions:

· What is the total population (number) in the selected production zone?

· What percentage of the population is rural and what percentage is urban?

· What is the total number of farmer households?

· Do you know the number or percentage of female headed households?

· Do you know the average size (number of persons) of farmer households?

Max 100 words

Producer categories

In this paragraph, you will categorize and differentiate farmers based on relevant parameters. Farmer categories are generally defined by their size of holding (crop producers) or number of animals (livestock production). When relevant, farmer categories are defined by the size of holding and number of animals (mixed farming system). For the size of holding, please use the locally prevailing unit of measurement (hectare, acre, m2, feddan, …). For tree production, the categorization can be based on the number of trees. For aquaculture, it can be based on the size of fishponds or number of fish.

Aim: Defining and describing the different farmer categories that can be distinguished.

Guiding questions:

· First column. We have pre-defined 5 farmer categories: Landless, micro, small, intermediate and large. We have not set out hard definitions for each of these typologies. Landless farmers are farmers without land who cultivate on rented land. Micro, small, intermediate and large farmers have to be defined according to the local realities of your case.

· Second column: How do you define the 5 farmer categories for your situation?

· Third column: What is the main purpose of the farming activities of the different farmer categories? Select one out of the following three options: (1) Subsistence; (2) Subsistence and sales; (3) Commercial orientation.

· Fourth and last column: What is the representation of each farmer category in the production zone of your case? Express this in the percentage of the total number of farmer households in the production zone. Make sure that you get to a total of 100% when adding all the percentages in the final column.

· Observations below the table: How is land tenure organized and structured (rented, lease, possession through title deed or informal mechanisms, etc.)?

Farmer categories

Definition

Purpose of farming

% of farmer households

Landless

Micro

Small

Intermediate

Large

100 %

Remarks on land tenure system:

Role of men, women and youth

Farming households are made up of younger and older men and women, who often play different, complementary roles in the family farm, both in terms of production, processing, transport and sales. Farmer household members dedicate their time to multiple activities, both on-farm and off-farm.

Aim: Specifying the roles of men, women and youth

Guiding questions:

· What are the specific responsibilities of men in the family farms? How do they contribute to the farmer household livelihoods? What specific tasks do men carry out? How much time do they invest in the farming activities?

· What are the specific responsibilities of women in the family farms? How do they contribute to the farmer household livelihoods? What specific tasks do women carry out and how much time do they invest in the farming activities? What are specific challenges and opportunities for women?

· What is the role of youth in the family farm? What is the interest of youth in farming and agribusiness? What are specific challenges and opportunities for youth?

· What are off-farm economic activities? Who conducts these activities? What is the importance of off-farm / non-farm activities for the farmer household and for supporting farming activities?

Max 150 words

Socio-economic conditions

Like all households, farmer households strive to improve their livelihoods. This ambition has to be put in the context of prevailing socio-economic conditions.

Aim: providing information about local socio-economic conditions

Guiding questions (you can write a text or use the table below):

· What can you say about local socio-economic conditions?

· What are challenges and opportunities related to: Access to land; Access to water; Food security; Nutrition diversity; Housing conditions; Access to health care; Transport; Schools, ….?

(You do not need to directly find all this information yourself. Please make use of local resources and reports).

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Socio-economic conditions

Observations

Challenges

Opportunities

Access to land

Access to water

Food security

Nutrition diversity

Housing conditions

Health care

Transport

Schools

Informal organisation of farmers

Farmers are generally members of different social groups, for addressing a wide array of issues. Often these are not formally registered. We then call them ‘informal organisations’.

Aim: providing an overview of informal organisations of farmers in the production zone

Guiding questions (you can write a text or use the table below):

· Are producers/farmers informally organized? Can you give examples and names of informal organisations?

· Who are members of these groups? When relevant and if possible, specify for men, women, youth.

· How are these informal organisations organized? How do you assess the level and quality of internal governance and management of these informal organisations?

· Can you give examples of activities that are undertaken by these informal farmers’ organisations?

· How important are these activities for farmers?

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Informal organizations of farmers

Members

Internal organization

Activities

Importance

Formal organisation of farmers

Formal farmers’ organisations are registered self-help groups, associations, cooperatives or other forms of organisation.

Aim: providing an overview of formal organisations of farmers in the production zone.

Guiding questions (you can write a text or use the table below):

· Are producers/farmers formally organized? Please give the names of these formal farmers’ organisations.

· How many members do these organisations have? If possible, specify male and female members.

· How do you assess the level and quality of internal governance and management of these formal organisations?

· Can you give examples of activities that are undertaken by these formal farmers’ organisations? How important are these activities for farmers?

· Please add some observations on the formal farmers’ organisations after the table.

Formal farmers’ organizations

Members

Internal governance and management

Activities

Observations:

Focus: Product-Place-Producers

This chapter presents the focus of this agribusiness development case.

Product: commodity focus

Aim: Indicating and explaining the core commodity or commodities of your AED case

Guiding questions:

· What commodity is central to your case?

· What is the importance of the commodity/commodities in the farmers’ production system in the selected production zone?

· Is it a main source of farmers’ income, or is it just an activity beside others?

· Is it a long existing commodity or a new one?

· Is it mainly for food or for cash?

· Is it a culturally important crop?

· Is the commodity focus induced by a project or the mandate of your organisation?

· Other observations?

Max 100 words

Place: geographic focus

Aim: Indicating and justifying the geographic focus your AED case

Guiding questions:

· Does the case cover the entire production zone described in chapter 1?

· Or is it focusing on a certain geographical area within that zone? If so, why?

· Are there practical reasons to have a certain geographic focus?

· Other observations?

Max 100 words

Producers: farmer focus

Aim: Indicating and justifying the farmer focus your AED case

Guiding questions:

· What is the general interest of farmers in the commodity/commodities?

· Is the commodity of specific importance for certain farmer categories (landless, micro, small, intermediate, large) or for female or young farmers?

· Are certain informal or formal farmers’ organisations specialized, or having a specific interest in the commodity?

· Do you propose to focus on certain categories or to work with certain farmer groups?

Max 100 words

Importance of the case

For several reasons, an agribusiness development case can be important for farmers

· Number of farmers involved

· Size cultivated area

· Volume of production

· Importance for food production

· Importance for farmer income

· Turnover. This is expressed in monetary terms. The turnover is the total production multiplied by the average price (can be expressed in local currency and USD)

· Possibilities for post-harvest value creation

· Business development of farmers’ organizations (value creation, sales)

· Piloting of innovations

· Scaling and institutionalization

· Addressing farmer demand for developing the case

· …

Aim: Indicating and justifying the importance of your AED case

Guiding question:

· What are the main reasons why your case is important for farmers?

Max 100 words

Attractive title

Points of attention for title:

· An attractive title is not too long.

· It can be one title or a main title with a sub-title.

· A title has to be in line with the scope and content of the case and should raise interest of colleagues and partners, e.g. raising curiosity to know more about it.

· Think of the three P’s when searching for your title.

· In case of a clear commodity focus, highlight this in the title.

Step B

Getting to grips with your farmer-inclusive agribusiness development case

Agricultural production

This chapter describes the production cycle and principal agricultural practices that characterize the production of the commodity / commodities of my AED case. Replace the explanations and questions (in red) with your answers (in black).

Production cycle

Production is generally according to seasons. One, two or even more seasons are possible. During the seasons, farming is according to operational steps. Family farms rely on family labour. At certain moments they may however need hired labour. Labour must be considered as a production cost and hence must be quantified and accounted for in the case description

Aim: present the production season with a seasonal calendar, which starts with the month that is considered as the first month of the production season

Steps:

· First column: Start with the month that is considered as the first month of the production season (for crop production for instance the month that marks the onset of rains). If this is April, then the annual calendar goes from April to March. If it is September, then it is from September to August.

· Second column: Think of all the steps of the production season, from land preparation up to the point of selling.

· Examples of steps: Onset of rains, land preparation, irrigation, planting, fertilizer application, thinning, gap filling, weeding pest and disease scouting, harvesting, drying, threshing, winnowing, bagging, storage, processing, transporting, selling, …..

· Make sure to tailor these to the context of your particular case.

· Third column: Labour requirements, role of men, women and youth, hired labourers

· How much labour is required? % family labour? % hired labour?

· Seasonality and requirements of hired labour

· Costs and mechanisms to cover costs of hired labour

· Fourth column: Make relevant remarks, for improving agricultural practices

· Compare current farmer practices with recommended agricultural practices

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Months

Operations

Labour

Improving agricultural practices

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Production and productivity

Current production and yield levels are important baseline information. Production improvement is one of the major strategies for farmer income improvement.

Aim: providing figures and data related to the production and yield of the commodity of focus.

Guiding questions:

· For which years is information available? What is the source of information? What is the reliability of the information?

· What is the production zone that is considered? What is the cultivated area? (or what is the number of animals, number of trees?)

· What was the total production in this defined production area (if possible for several years)?

· What is the unit of measurement: tons, liters, kg’s (specify in table heading)

· What is the average yield total production / production area (for instance kg/ hectare)

· Observations: What are the reasons for high or low production / productivity?

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Years

Cultivated area (ha)

Total production

(...)

Productivity

(…../….)

Observations

2017

2018

2019

Yield gap and production risks

Aim: Identifying options for reducing yield gap and production risks

Guiding questions:

· Is the production optimal / are yields optimal? If not, what is the yield gap (difference between current yields and potential yields)? What productivity is possible under optimal farmer and research conditions?

· What are the key production risks. You can think of: pests and diseases, plant and animal health, weather, rainfall distribution, temperatures, wind, predators, security/theft, ….

· Feel free to add some observations after the tables.

Yield gap

Productivity possible under optimal research conditions:

Productivity possible under optimal farmer conditions:

Production risks

Main production risks:

· …

· …

· …

· …

Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Identifying options for reducing yield gap and production risks

Guiding questions:

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve productivity?

· What are challenges and opportunities to reduce or mitigate risks?

Topics

Challenges

Opportunities

Agricultural practices to improve productivity

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Reducing or mitigating production risks

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Agro-inputs and agri-finance

This chapter describes how the farmers acquire different types of agro-inputs and how they finance the production season.

Seeds

Seeds (crop production) and semen (livestock production) are at the start of production. Using quality seeds makes it often possible to improve production and quality.

Aim: providing insight to the production, access and use of seeds, relevant for your case.

Guiding questions:

· What are the varieties that farmers use (for the commodity that is central in your case)?

· Are these farmer-saved seeds, quality declared seeds or certified seeds?

· What is the farmers’ knowledge and information about quality seeds?

· Who / what actors are involved in developing varieties and multiplying seeds? Are farmers involved?

· How are farmers’ seed needs assessed?

· What are the costs of seeds?

· How is seed distributed among farmers?

· What are the challenges of the current seed system, and what are opportunities to improve it?

· What can farmers do themselves?

Max 15o words

Agro-inputs

Agro-inputs are also important for production, for soil fertility management, pest and disease control. You can think of: chemical/organic fertilizers, products of pest and disease control, animal feed, ….

Aim: providing insight to the access and use of agro-inputs, relevant for your case.

Guiding questions:

· What agro-inputs are used?

· How are agro inputs distributed? Are agro-inputs available on time and in required quantities?

· What is the quality of agro-inputs?

· How do farmers access agro-inputs? Individually? Collective purchase?

· Costs of agro-inputs? Are there subsidies?

· What are the challenges of the current agro-input supply system, and what are opportunities to improve it?

· What can farmers do themselves?

Max 150 words

Other production inputs

In addition to seeds and agro-inputs, farmers also need draught animals, machinery, tools, equipment, means of transport and other production inputs.

Aim: describing the access, use and needs for these other production inputs.

Guiding questions:

· What are the other production inputs that farmers need and use?

· How do farmers access these? What are modalities to cover the costs of these inputs? Ownership? Sharing? Renting?

· To what extent are needs covered (well, partially, not covered)?

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve the situation?

· What can farmers do themselves?

Max 150 words

Financing the production season

Farmers need finance for their agricultural activities. This requires savings and access to credit.

Aim: describing the farmers’ saving habits and access to credit, relevant to your case

Guiding questions:

· Do farmers know production costs?

· Do farmers save money for being prepared for the next production season?

· If so, how do they save? (there may be many forms of saving: keeping a stock of agricultural produce, investing in animals and hardware, informal saving groups, bank accounts, …)

· How do farmers access credit? Informal saving and credit groups? Family and friends? Micro-finance? Banks? Cooperative? Traders? Informal money lenders?

· What are modalities for accessing credit? Does it come at right moment?

· How do they pay back? In cash or in kind? Or combination? What are interest rates?

· What are the main challenges and opportunities related to input finance ?

· What can farmers do themselves?

Max 150 words

Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Identifying options for improving the access and use of agro-inputs and agri-finance

Guiding questions:

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve the access and use of quality seeds?

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve the access and use to agro-inputs?

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve the access and use to other production inputs?

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve the financing of the production season?

Topics

Challenges

Opportunities

Access and use of quality seeds

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Access and use of agro-inputs

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Access and use of production inputs

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Access and use of financing and credit support

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Post-harvest value creation

This chapter informs about the value that is created after harvesting of the primary product. The focus is on the selected commodity and on challenges and opportunities for farmers and their organisations to develop value adding activities.

There are many options and possibilities to create value. The first column in the table below enumerates possible Post-harvest (PH) value adding activities. The second column identifies value chain operators who could be the ‘value adders’. If your case is on livestock or aquaculture, please adapt the operations.

Possible PH value adding activities

Value chain operators who can add value

· Drying, threshing and winnowing

· Cleaning, sorting and grading

· Storing and conserving

· Transporting

· Processing (home, semi-industrial, industrial)

· Bagging/packaging (re-bagging/repackaging)

· Branding - labelling

· Tracing and certifying

· Use of by-products

· Farmers/Fishers

· Producers’ organizations

· Traders

· Processors

· Wholesalers

· Retailers (different types)

· Exporters

First post-harvest operations

Drying, threshing and winnowing, and cleaning sorting and grading are operations that are often the first post-harvest operations.

Aim: Providing a short description of the first post-harvest operations.

Guiding questions:

· If applicable, describe the drying, threshing and winnowing operations. What is done? Who are doing it? What observations can be made? Could these activities be improved or further developed?

· If applicable, describe the cleaning, sorting and grading activities? What is done? Who are doing it? What observations can be made about it? Do farmers have the market requirements in mind? Could these activities be improved or further developed?

Max 100 words

Storage and conservation

Storage and conservation is also part of post-harvest value creation. The product becomes available at a later time and could obtain a higher price. Storage and conservation costs money and there may be losses in quality and volume of the product associated with storage.

Aim: Providing a short description of storage and conservation activities, challenges and opportunities.

Guiding questions:

· What storage and conservation activities are undertaken? Who are doing these? What is the infrastructure? Who owns the storage and conservation infrastructure?

· What can be said about conservation practices and storage losses?

· What can be improved? Could farmers take up (more / better) storage and conservation activities?

Max 100 words

Transport

The commodity of your case may be consumed locally, sold on local markets, but may also end up at provincial, national, regional and international markets. This implies that the commodity is transported for short, medium and possibly long distances.

Aim: Providing a short description of transport activities, challenges and opportunities.

Guiding questions:

· To what destinations is the commodity transported? Who are involved in the transport activities? To what extent are farmers involved in transport? Who are the other actors involved in transporting the commodity?

· Is it hard to reach (distant) markets? If so, why?

· What can be said about the costs and benefits of transporting?

· Are there significant product losses associated with transportation?

· What can be improved?

· Could farmers take up (more / better) transport activities?

Max 100 words

Processing

When discussing post-harvest value creation, most people think of processing. This is indeed a very important and potentially profitable activity, for farmers and other entrepreneurs. It is useful to distinguish domestic processing, semi-industrial processing and industrial processing.

Aim: Providing a short description of processing activities, challenges and opportunities.

Guiding questions:

· Is the primary produce processed before it enters the retail channel or sold as raw primary produce? If so, describe the different products that are derived from the primary produce.

· Is the primary produce processed by farmer households? What operations? Who are doing these operations? Could farmer households take up (more / better) home processing activities?

· Are specialized farmers or farmers’ organisations involved in processing the commodity? What operations and technology? What infrastructure is used? Could farmers (organisations) take up (more / better) processing activities?

· Who are the other processors? What are the names of semi-industrial and industrial processors? Where are they located? What are their operations and what infrastructure and machinery do they have? What are the relations between farmers and these processors?

· How do you qualify the professionalism of the (different) processing operations? What are the challenges and options for improvement?

· Are there options for new processing activities? Can additional products be developed? Could farmers take up (more / better) processing activities?

Max 150 words

Preparing agricultural products for marketing

Different PH operations are important for preparing the product for marketing. These include packing, branding, labelling, tracing and certification.

Aim: Providing information about packing, branding, labelling, tracing and certification (if applicable to your case).

Guiding questions:

· Describe how packing/ bagging and re-bagging takes place? Is it done? Size and quality of bags/ containers / etc.? Possibilities for improvement? Who is doing the packing/ bagging? Can farmers take up or improve packing / bagging activities?

· What can you say about branding and labelling? Do brands and labels exist? Who developed/develops brands and labels? Can farmers take up or improve branding and labelling?

· What can you tell about traceability and certification? Can the product be traced back to farmers and other value chain operators? Are there any certification systems existing? For whom are these interesting? Is or could organic production and certification be interesting? Can farmers take up or improve traceability and certification of their products?

Max 100 words

By-products

All commodities have by-products. You can think of leaves, stalks, husks, peels (etc.) and of skins, blood, horns (etc.). By-products are sometimes discarded as waste, but they can be valuable products that can be sold and generate income for smallholder farmers and their organizations.

Aim: Describe all the by-products that you can think of for the commodity of your case and then answer the questions.

Guiding questions:

· What are the by-products of your selected commodity?

· Are these by-products of value or can they be put to value? If so, how and where are they offered for sale?

· What improvements are possible for improving the value of by-products?

Max 100 words

Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Identifying options for improving farmers’ post-harvest value creation

Guiding questions:

· What are opportunities to improve first post-harvest operations?

· What are opportunities to improve storage and conservation?

· What are opportunities to improve transport?

· What are opportunities to improve processing?

· What are opportunities for better preparation of agricultural products for marketing?

· What are opportunities for putting by-products to value?

Topics

Challenges

Opportunities

Improve first post-harvest operations

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improve storage and conservation

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improve transport

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improve processing

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Better preparing agricultural products for marketing

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Putting by-products to value

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Market relations and sales

For the selected commodity/commodities, this chapter informs about current and potential markets and reflects on issues related to quality, food safety and prices.

Current markets

The preceding chapters were about production (primary produce) and post-harvest value creation. A certain part of the farmers’ production (primary produce, processed products, by-products, …) is generally sold.

Aim: Describing the markets that farmers currently reach, with specification of the products sold.

Questions:

· Which farmers’ products are sold ? Distinguish different products (primary produce, by-products, products having undergone some value adding activities).

· Where are the markets? Specify the local, provincial, national, regional, international markets. Please give the names of towns, provinces, countries (etc.)

· Provide the information in the table below.

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Markets

Names of market locations

Products sold

Local market

Provincial market

National market

Regional market

International market

Market demand and market potential

To develop market relations and sales, it is important for farmers to know the market demand. Most often, farmers only capture part of the market demand, mainly at local level, and fetch low prices. Markets that are further away, higher-value markets are often not reached. Farmers generally deliver to traders, middlemen and processors who reach those markets

Aim: Identifying potential market demand and opportunities for farmers

Guiding questions:

· Which markets offer potential, but are not yet reached? Who are potential buyers?

· What are the quality requirements and/or food safety standards for different products and for different market segments? What do buyers and consumers want?

· What is the potential demand (in terms of volume / quality)? What is the potential for market development?

· What can farmers and their organisations do? With whom to collaborate?

Max 150 words

Quality and food safety

Quality and food safety are important for reaching higher value markets.

Aim: short analysis of quality management requirements, activities, challenges and opportunities.

Guiding questions:

· Which different quality grades are farmers currently able to produce?

· Considering production potential and market demand, is the quality of produced commodities good enough? If not, what should be improved?

· What are key constraints that farmers face in order to produce the best quality?

· Are there agencies that are responsible for quality inspection and food safety? Which ones?

· What are challenges and opportunities for quality management? What can be improved? With whom should farmers collaborate?

Max 100 words

Prices

For farmers, it is important to know and compare the prices they currently receive, with the prices paid by end consumers and prices paid and received by intermediate value chain operators (those that are between producers and consumers, such as local traders, processors, wholesalers, retailers). Detailed information on minimum and maximum prices and the yearly variability of prices is important for developing marketing strategies.

Aim: Collecting and presenting price information and use price information for strategizing.

Guiding questions (for tables below):

· For first table below: What are the prices (in local currency) that producers receive? Distinguish different products (for instance fresh maize, dried maize, maize flour, …). Possible market locations are: farm-gate, local market, regional or national market, trader or processor’s town (…). When thinking about highest and lowest prices, think of the months when prices are generally high and low.

· For second table: What are the prices consumers pay for (different) end products at different markets?

· For third table: What are the prices that intermediate value chain operators (local traders, processors, wholesalers, retailers) pay and receive for their products (for instance for a maize processor: price paid to farmers for dried maize and price received for maize flour).

Guiding questions (for analysis):

· Are there large differences between the prices received by farmers and paid for by end consumers?

· Are these difference justified because of losses, processing and transport costs, market risks?

· Which value chain operators seem to earn well?

· What can farmers and their organisations do? With whom to collaborate?

Prices received by farmers

Products

Market location

Minimum price

Maximum price

Average price

End consumer prices

Products

Market location

Minimum price

Maximum price

Average price

Value chain operator prices

Operators

Purchase price

Purchase location

Sales price

Sales location

Local traders

Processors

Wholesalers

Retailers

Analysis:

· …

· …

· …

Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Identifying options for improving farmers’ market relations and sales

Guiding questions:

· What are challenges and opportunities to respond to market demand and to improve access to higher value markets?

· What are challenges and opportunities to improve quality and food safety?

· What are challenges and opportunities to fetch better prices?

Topics

Challenges

Opportunities

Responding to market demand and access to higher value markets

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Quality and food safety

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Prices

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Policy and business environment

This chapter reflects on the main issues in the policy and business environment that affect or may affect my farmer-inclusive agribusiness development case.

Policy environment

Policy development, policy change and effective policy implementation are often required to create a more enabling environment for farmer-inclusive agribusiness development. Different laws, policies and regulations may affect your farmer-inclusive AED case.

Aim: Identifying the most important policy challenges.

Guiding question:

· What are the policy issues that have the highest priority for the farmers, the production zone and your farmer-inclusive AE development case?

Max 100 words

Business environment

‘Organised farmers as partners in agribusiness’ is about the positioning of farmers in the business environment. Macro-economic forces (such as global market conditions, exchange rates, export requirements and regulations, …) may affect the farmers’ business case. Also

private sector regulations may influence the case. The same holds for pricing policies and subsidies.

Aim: Identifying challenges and opportunities for creating a more enabling environment for farmer-inclusive business development.

Guiding question:

· What has the highest priority for farmers and farmers’ organisations to have a better chance to become partners in business?

Max 100 words

Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Identifying options for improving the farmers’ policy and business environment

Guiding questions:

· What are the main challenges and opportunities to improve the policy environment?

· What are the main challenges and opportunities to improve the business environment?

Topics

Challenges

Opportunities

Policy environment

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Business environment

· ….

· ….

· ….

· ….

Stakeholder roles and collaboration

This chapter is about the private and public sector stakeholders that are relevant for the farmer-inclusive agribusiness case.

Stakeholder inventory

In any agribusiness development case there are many stakeholders. These are from the private sector and the public sector. You can think of the following four stakeholder groups:

· Value chain operators (private sector): farmers, farmers’ organisations, traders, processing companies, wholesalers, retailers, consumers

· Value chain supporters (private sector): agro-input providers, banks and micro-finance institutions, labourers, transporters, ….

· Value chain enablers (public sector) : local government, government agencies, ministries, regulatory bodies, universities, research institutes, extension services, ….

· Externally funded actors, such as projects, NGO’s and donors.

Aim: Making an inventory of stakeholders, relevant for your case.

Guiding questions:

· Second column: Who are the key stakeholders that are important for your farmer-inclusive AED case? Think of actors from both the private and public sector. List these stakeholders according to the six intervention domains listed in the first column of the table. Please be specific in the naming of the stakeholders (that is: give the official name of companies, banks, government institutions, research institutes (etc.).

· Third column: What is the importance of these stakeholders for the farmers and farmers’ organisations in your case and why?

· Fourth column: What are your observations regarding the collaboration between these stakeholders and farmers? Choose from the following options: very strong, strong, average, weak, very weak. If there is no collaboration, write ‘No collaboration’.

Intervention domains

Stakeholders (private and public)

Importance for farmers

Collaboration with farmers

Agricultural practices

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

Agro-inputs

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

Agri-finance

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

Post-harvest value creation

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

Market relations and sales

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

Policy environment

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

· …

Stakeholder roles

The table below informs about the roles key stakeholders should play, the roles they currently play and the changes needed to improve the performance of these stakeholders.

Stakeholders have certain roles, which they may be playing well, partially or not.

Aim: Assessing stakeholder roles (for most important stakeholders in your case) and suggesting changes needed to improve the performance of these stakeholders.

Guiding questions:

(From the stakeholders identified in paragraph 9.1, put the most important ones in the first column and then answer the following questions):

· What are the roles the stakeholder should play? (second column)

· What is the role the stakeholder plays in actual practice? (third column)

· What should change to improve the performance of the stakeholder? (fourth column)

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Stakeholders

Roles they should play

Roles they play in actual practice

Change needed to improve performance

Additional observations:

Stakeholder collaboration

Stakeholders should not only play their roles, but also work together. Stakeholder collaboration can be strong, weak or missing. Weak or missing links could be: insufficient collaboration between research and extension, insufficient collaboration between farmers and financial institutions, lack of collaboration between consumers and farmers, inexistent collaboration between agro-input dealers and government, etc.

Aim: Assessing stakeholder collaboration and identifying weak or missing links.

Guiding questions:

· How do stakeholders work together? Do they know each other? Do they trust each other? Do they collaborate or compete?

· What are weak or missing links?

Max 150 words

Orientations for developing the case

This chapter summarizes the main opportunities for developing the agribusiness development case and for optimizing the performance of the farmers and farmers’ organization(s) involved.

Most important opportunities

In the previous chapters you have presented information on different dimensions of your case, from agricultural production (chapter 4) to stakeholder roles and collaboration (chapter 9).

Aim: Making a summary overview of challenges and opportunities

Guiding questions:

· What are the most important opportunities for improving agricultural production and productivity (cf. chapter 4)?

· What are the most important opportunities for improving the access to, and use of agro-inputs (cf. chapter 5)?

· What are the most important opportunities for improving post-harvest value creation (cf. chapter 6)?

· What are the most important opportunities for improving market relations and sales (cf. chapter 7)?

· What are the most important opportunities for improving the farmers’ policy and business environment (cf. chapter 8)?

· What are the most important opportunities for improving stakeholder roles and collaboration (cf. chapter 9)?

Challenges

Opportunities

Improving agricultural production and productivity

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improving access to, and use of quality seeds, agro-inputs and other production inputs

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improving the financing of the production season

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improving post-harvest value creation

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improving market relations and sales

· ….

· ….

· ….

More enabling policy and business environment for farmers

· ….

· ….

· ….

Improving stakeholder roles and collaboration

· ….

· ….

· ….

Priorities and objectives for developing the case

Aim: identifying the top priorities and tentative formulation of objectives

Guiding questions:

· First table: What are, for you, the top 5 priorities for this case? Why? What actions are required to optimize farmers’ performance?

· farmers’ objectives, what goals do they want to achieve? Think of possible goals for subjects like: total production, yield level, access and use of inputs, processing, marketing or others. Put the subject for which the objective is formulated in the first column of the table below.

· Second table: For these priorities/subjects, what is the current situation and what would be the targeted situation? If possible specify the year for which the objective is formulated.

· Feel free to add some observations after the table.

Top priorities

Reasons

Actions to optimize farmers’ performance

1

2

3

4

5

Top priorities

Current situation (2019)

Objective (for year ….)

1

2

3

4

5

Role for my organisation and myself

Aim: Specifying the role of your organisation and yourself

Guiding questions:

· What role can your organisation play?

· What role can you yourself play?

Max 150 words

Annex 2: Guidelines Tool 2 – Profiling Farmers

Annex 2 A – Information for a farmer profile

All persons and situations are different, so it is not possible to prescribe the contents of an interview, nor the structure of a farmer profile. Below, we share some ideas about the subjects that may be covered and questions that could be asked during the interview.

Situation of the family farm

· Since when do you live here?

· What is your family situation? Are you married and do you have children?

· What is composition of your household (adults, men-women, children)?

· What are the most important agricultural activities of the farm?

· And particularly for yourself (as member of farmer household)?

· How did you obtain your farmland/fishing area?

· Do you have other economic activities, i.e. non-farm activities? If so, which ones?

· What are the most important expenditures of your family? And of yourself?

· What are the ambitions/dreams that you and your family want to realize?

· What objectives do you want to achieve in the next 2-3 years?

Agricultural/Fishing practices

· What are the changes in the use of your farmland / special management area? Have you increased or decreased your cultivated area? Why? How come?

· What are the crops you grow? And the animals you keep?

· What are the reasons for cultivating the different crops and the animals you keep?

· Are you specialized on certain crops or animals?

· Do you specialize on certain agricultural activities? Which ones? Why?

· Do you organize / run your farm and farm activities today in a different way than before (for instance 5 years ago)?

· What are the changes? What are the innovations? What has caused these changes or what are your reasons to change?

· Which inputs do you use (seeds, farmyard manure, fertilizer, chemicals, tools, machinery, …) ?

· Did any changes occur in the access and use of agro-inputs?

· Do you have specific observations to make about the seeds you use (varieties, quality, price, availability)?

· And for the management of soil fertility (availability of organic and chemical fertilizer, prices, best practices, …?

· How do you finance your agricultural activities (own capital and savings, sales, informal credit, formal credit)?

· Do you have a bank account? Savings? Credit? Which bank/MFI?

Production and productivity

· What is your production (different crops / animals)? How is your production evolving (higher, lower, same)?

· Do you know production per land unit (for instance yield per hectare)? How do you measure this? What is the unit of measurement (are, hectare, litres, others)

· How are yields (productivity per land unit / per animal) evolving?

· What can you say about the food and nutrition situation of your family? What are your sources of food? Are there changes over the years? What are the most difficult periods?

· What can you say about the quality of nutrition of you and your children?

Storage, conservation and processing

· Do you store your agricultural production? Which crops / products? How? For which period? With what objective?

· What are the challenges related to storage and conservation? How do you address these?

· Do you process some of your products? Which ones? How? Why?

· What are the revenues you get from processing?

· What are the challenges related to processing? How do you address these?

Marketing and sales

· Who are your contact persons for selling your production?

· When and how do you sell your produce (for most important sales)?

· What prices do you get (different markets, different periods of the year)?

· Have the prices changed in past years? Do the prices rise or decrease? Why?

· Do you observe seasonal price differences?

· All in all, what are your benefits?

· Can you explain (costs and benefits)?

· Do you see possibilities to sell your products better?

· Do you perceive new markets? Or new commercial partners? Other modalities to sell?

Membership farmer organisations

· When did you become a member of your farmer organisation?

· Why?

· Which services did you receive / are you receiving from the farmer organisation?

· What has been the result and impact of those services?

· Do all members of the farmer organisation benefit from their membership? Or are some benefitting more than others? How come?

· According to you, what should be the priorities of the farmer organisation in the coming years?

· If applicable: how do you see the relation of your farmer organisation with higher tiers (Union, federation, platform, …)?

Relations with other actors

· With whom do you maintain business relations (traders, processors, banks and MFI’s, agro-input dealers, seed companies, …)?

· How were these relations established?

· How do you qualify these relations?

· What are your relations with research, extension, local authorities, development projects?

· How do you qualify these relations?

External factors

· Which external factors (climate, market prices, government policies and regulations, …) are influencing (positively or negatively) your farm and the results you obtain?

· Can you explain?

Annex 2 B – Writing a farmer life history

Try to imagine that you tell your brother, sister or friend the following story: I met this person in this village and this is what he told me about his/her life and his/her farm … I found it very interesting to learn about the changes and events happening in the life of this person.

Some suggestions for subjects to discuss:

· Since when are you living here?

· When did you become a farmer/fisher?

· How did/do you obtain land?

· What other work did/do you do?

· When were you married?

· When were your children born? Are they going to school?

· Why did you become member of the producers’ organisation? Why?

· What services did/do you receive from the PO?

· What other service providers come to your farm /house?

· What are your plans for the coming years, for your family, for your farm?

· ….

A farm-life history has specific interest in the history of farm work and land use and important changes that occurred. Some suggestions for guiding questions:

· What are changes in land use of your farm?

· Assess for instance the process and degree of specialization on certain commodities (for market-orientation purposes), or, vice versa, assess the importance of maintaining a diversity of crops and the reasons for this.

· Which technological changes did you adopt over the years?

· What inputs (seeds, fertilizer, farmyard manure, chemicals, machines, tools) do you use? Did you use these before?

· What choices did you make to expand or reduce your farm size?

· Who is working on your farm (family labour, hired labour, or labour exchange in community)? Did changes occur?

· Who are your contacts for selling produce? For which markets? Is there any change in the way you store, process, sell your products?

· …

Annex 3: Guidelines Tool 3 – Capital Pentagon (Farmers’ resource endowment)

Step 1: Reflect on the current farmers’ resource endowment (5 capitals)

Indicate the current resource endowment of farmers for the specific case. For each of the five capitals, think of what the farmers have and can use to improve their socio-economic status. Describe the current situation. Be as specific as you can in your description of the capitals!

Resources

(‘5 Capitals’)

Current farmers’ resource endowment

Human capital

Natural

capital

Financial

capital

Physical

capital

Social

capital

Step 2: Analyse and show the relative importance of the 5 capitals in a capital pentagon

2a. Scoring

Evaluate each capital endowment by giving a (qualitative) score for the five capitals:

· 0-20 The capital is absent to very weak

· 20-40 The capital is very weak to weak

· 40-60 The capital is weak to acceptable

· 60-80The capital is acceptable to good

· 80-100 The capital is good to excellent

2b Draw a regular pentagon

After (qualitative) scoring, draw first a regular pentagon such as the figure to the right. There are 5 axes, one for each of the 5 capitals. Starting from the middle, each axis represents a potential maximum score of 10o.

2c Dot the scores

Dot the scores you gave on the axes of each of the 5 capitals and draw the specific pentagon for your case

The drawing of the ‘capital pentagon’ shows the relative strength and weakness of the 5 capitals. The size and shape of the pentagon visualizes the specifics of the farmers’ resource endowment. By combining the dots, you get the specific size and shape of the resource endowment of the farmers in your case.

Step 3: Identify possibilities to strengthen farmers’ resources

The third step is action oriented: think of the possibilities to strengthen the capital endowment (for each of the 5 capitals) and put these in the table below.

Resources

(‘5 Capitals’)

Options to strengthen farmers’ resources

Human capital

Natural

capital

Financial

capital

Physical

capital

Social

capital

Annex 4: Guidelines Tool 4 – Assessing and improving the Governance, Management and Performance (GMP) of a Farmers Organisation

Step 1: Assessing the Governance of the farmers’ organisation

Governance is the way how a group of people, in this case a farmers’ organisation, decides to do things together. It has to do with the organisational structure, the membership base and autonomy of the organisation. Typical points of attention are elections, member participation and independence vis-à-vis other actors. Good governance has – among others - to do with transparency of decision-making processes, respect of rules and regulations and internal by-laws, responsiveness to member needs, non-discrimination, inclusiveness, accountability of elected leaders, orientation at consensus and conflict prevention.

Organisational structure

Under organisational structure, two dimensions are assessed: legal status and compliance with legislation and cooperation among farmers’ organisations. Cooperation can be vertical (affiliation to higher tiers and apex organisations such as unions, federations or platforms) and can be horizontal (collaboration with other types of farmers’ organisations)

1. LEGAL STATUS AND COMPLIANCE WITH LEGISLATION

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Legal recognition/ registration

 

· The organisation is legally recognized and officially registered

Member registration

 

· The organisation has a list or a database with the names, contact details and contributions of all the members

Organizational records

 

· The organisation properly keeps all important organisational records (official documents, minutes of GA and meetings)

Organs of the PO: General assembly, Board, Control committee, member committees

 

· The internal rules and regulations are well documented.

· The annual general meeting (general assembly) is regularly organized according to the constitution

· Board members are elected according to the constitution and by-laws of the organization

· Financial control committees are in place and properly do their work

2. Cooperation among farmers’ organisations

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Affiliation and collaboration with higher tiers and apex organisations

 

· The organisation is working well together with the higher tier(s)

· The higher tier(s) know(s) the realities of local farmers very well

Collaboration with other types of farmers’ organisations

 

· The farmers’ organisation is working with other farmers’ organisations or farmer groups in its intervention area

Membership base

A farmers’ organisation is the ownership of the members or should be. Democratic member control and member economic participation are of key importance.

3. Democratic member control

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Member participation priority setting and decision making

· The members set the priorities of the organisation

· Important subjects are discussed and decided upon during meetings or general assemblies

Accountability of elected representatives to members

· The Board members explain what they did during the General Assembly

Equal voting rights

· All members have equal voting rights

· Members have voting rights according to share value

Internal communication / information of all members

· All members, also those further away, have the same level of information about the activities of the organisation

Member needs and satisfaction assessment

· The Board members approach farmer-members to ask them about priorities for farming and income improvement

· Board members approach farmer-members to ask about their training needs

· The organisation has tools to measure member satisfaction

Grievances and conflict management

· There are no tensions or conflicts in the organisation

· Tensions and conflicts are prevented by good internal communication

· There are methods and experiences with conflict management

4. Member economic participation

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Equitable contribution to capital

· All members make the same contribution to the capital of the cooperative

· Member that do not pay are monitored and warned

Compensation to members / payment of dividend

· In case of profit, dividend is paid to the members

Allocating surpluses / reinvestment

· A significant part of the profit is reinvested in new activities

Internal resource mobilization

· The organisation manages to mobilize member contributions in order to have own financial capital

Members deciding on budget allocation

· Members decide on the use of the available budget

Autonomy

In addition to being owned and directed by the members, a farmers’ organisation should be able to operate autonomously, independent of others for decision making and using own capital for implementing activities.

5. INDEPENDENCE

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Motivation for farmers to organize themselves

· It was the choice of the farmers to establish the organisation

· The members have clear goals they want to achieve with their organisation

Control by members

· It can be stated that the organisation is fully controlled by the members

· There are no signs of ‘elite capture’, e.g. a few influential members dominating the organisation

Level of Government and/or NGO-donor influence

· The Government does not interfere in the activities of the organisation

· Supporting NGO’s or projects do not tell the organisation what to do

6. FINANCIAL AUTONOMY

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Own capital (no or limited donor dependency on external funding)

· The percentage of external funding in the budget of the organisation is nil or limited

· The organisation can function well without external support

Hardware, assets and financial reserves

· The organisation has hardware, such as and office or a store

· The organisation has assets, such as tractors, cars or trucks

· The organisation has sufficient financial reserves on its bank account

Capacity to generate own income to finance FO activities

· The organisation is able to earn money or get member contributions that are needed for its activities

Long-term strategic and financial plan

· The organisation has a clear strategic plan for the coming years, which is supported by budget allocation

· The organisation has an investment plan

Step 2: Assessing the Management of the farmers’ organisation

Management is about directing, planning, using and controlling the organisation’s (human and financial) resources in order to achieve the objectives of the organisation.

Human and financial resources

A key element of Management is the availability and functioning of professional staff and good procedures for handling the financial resources of the organisation.

7. STAFFING

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Staff availability and recruitment

· The farmers’ organisation has professional staff

· Staff is recruited via a job announcement and a transparent selection process

Staff qualifications / Regular staff training 

· The staff members are very qualified for their job

· Staff regularly gets training to improve their capacities

Staff performance appraisal 

· The Board assesses whether the staff delivers according to their terms of reference

· The staff members do not replace the elected leaders, but support them

8. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Proper budgeting

· The organisation has a good budget preparation system

Approved annual budgets at different levels

· Budgets are officially approved before they are used

Separation of functions

· There is a clear separation of functions in order to avoid errors or fraud

Financial record keeping (cash and bank books)

· The bank and cash books are very well kept

Fixed assets registers

· The organisation transparently registers all fixed assets and hardware

Financial reports made and shared during regular meetings, including GA

· During meetings and the General Assembly, the treasurer presents the financial report to the members

Audited accounts; internal and external

· The accounts of the farmers’ organisation are officially and regularly audited and approved

Planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation

This is a bridge to Performance. Based on good governance and good management of human and financial resources, a farmers’ organisation has to have the capacity to properly plan for its activities and subsequently implement, monitor and evaluate these.

9. PLANNING

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Availability and quality of planning documents (strategic, action and business plans)

· The organisation has a medium-term strategic plan

· The organisation has a business plan for its economic activities

· The organisation has an annual work plan

Clear objectives and performance indicators

· The organisation has SMART objectives (SMART=Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound)

Member-prioritized activities

· The organisation is implementing the activities the members want it to do

Operational planning (who, what, when, where, how)

· Within the organisation, it is clear who has to do what, when, where and how.

· Specific member committees are put in place when needed

10. IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

GMP Points of attention

Score

Indicators

Effective implementation of plans and decisions by staff and members

· Members take the responsibility to effectively implement the activities that were planned.

· Staff is dedicated to their job and working hard

· During meetings action points are evaluated

· During meetings action points are agreed upon

On-going monitoring of implementation and timely correction by staff and members

· Members and committees keep a close eye on the good and timely implementation of the planned activities

· If need be, the Board tells staff to improve the way they work

Evaluation of implementation level and results obtained

· Every year, the organisation looks back and evaluates how well it performed.

· The organisation learns from mistakes.

Step 3: Assessing the Performance (the services of the farmers’ organisation and benefits for members)

Farmers’ organizations are established, governed, and controlled by the members who decide to work together to meet economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through joint action. Performance relates to how well an organisation executes on its most important tasks and parameters, set against what could be expected considering the objectives of the members.

Service delivery of FO’s is about collective action, which has two major manifestations:

· Collective action for individual benefit. By working together, individual farmers can have access to goods and services that improve the performance of their individual farms.

· Collective action for member-owned enterprises. Through collective action, farmers can take up activities going well beyond the individual farm level (input and credit supply, storage, processing, transport, trading, ...). In this way farmers can become co-owner of social enterprises contributing to farmer income, either resulting from cost reduction or from value creation.

Collective action can improve the resource endowment of farmers (cf. 5 capitals and capital pentagon). There are many forms of collective action: farmers’ cost sharing; creating economies of scale, reducing transaction risks and costs, negotiation (markets, prices), representation and visibility. There are many activities that farmers’ organizations can undertake.

In the GMP assessment, the performance of farmers’ organisations is assessed by analysing whether the organisation undertakes significant activities and whether good results are obtained for the associated members, in one or several of the following service areas:

1. Access to inputs

2. Access to credit and financial services

3. Optimizing production, yields and quality

4. Storage, transport and processing for value addition

5. Market linkages and marketing

6. Lobby, advocacy and negotiation

These intervention areas are reviewed in the sections below. Two scores are given: the first is for the efforts made (current activities) and the second is for the benefits for members that are actually achieved (member benefits).

The score for the each of the six dimensions (intervention areas) is the average score of the assessment of the effort made by current activities and the actual benefits for members.

Access to inputs and finance

Farmers need production factors for their activities (seeds, agro-inputs, animal feed, machinery and tools) and they need credit and financial services. The indicators are examples. The purpose is that you reflect on the activities that are undertaken, which are specific for the farmers’ organisation under review.

11. ACCESS TO INPUTS

GMP Points of attention

Score

Possible indicators

Current activities

· The organization facilitates access to good quality seeds (or semen in case of livestock)

· The organisation facilitates access to agro-inputs, such as fertilizer, chemicals and other inputs, for instance through collective procurement

· The organisation facilitates members to use or buy machinery and tools

· The organisation facilitates members to invest in irrigation and water harvesting

· …..

Member benefits

· Members are very happy about the collective procurement that is done by the organisation

· Members are very happy about intermediary role of the organisation for farmers to get access to production factors and inputs.

· …..

12. ACCESS TO CREDIT AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

GMP Points of attention

Score

Possible indicators

Current activities

· The organisation has a system of internal credit provision to members

· The organisation helps farmers to get access to credit

· The organisation is able to prepare a bank loan request for investments and operational activities

· The organisation has got an important loan from a bank or micro-finance institution

· The organisation facilitates access to health, crop or other insurance

· ….

Member benefits

· Members are very happy about the facilitating role of the cooperative for getting financial services

· Thanks to the cooperative farmers have accessed (more or more affordable) credit

· ….

Optimizing production yields and quality

Farmers need production factors for their activities (seeds, agro-inputs, animal feed, machinery and tools) and they need credit and financial services. The indicators are examples. The purpose is that you reflect on the activities that are undertaken, which are specific for the farmers’ organisation under review. For member benefits, reflect if the results can be (fully, partially) attributed to the organisation.

13. OPTIMISING PRODUCTION, YIELDS AND QUALITY

GMP Points of attention

Score

Possible indicators

Current activities

· The organisation is closely working together with research and extension

· The organisation has training materials on best agricultural practices

· Members have been trained on recommended agricultural practices (few, most, all, …)

· The organisation has a demonstration plot for showing good agricultural practices

· The organisation has farmer-trainers who train member-farmers (Trainer of Trainers (ToT) system)

· The organisation organizes exchange visits

· ….

Member benefits

· Thanks to the organisation, members’ yields are higher.

· Thanks to the organisation, the quality of members’ produce is better

· Thanks to the organisation, members’ production costs are lower

Product and market development

Farmers’ organisations can do a lot to support members with product and market development.

14. POST-HARVEST VALUE CREATION

GMP Points of attention

Score

Possible indicators

Current activities

· The organisation is engaged in grading and sorting

· The organisation trains members on storage and conservation

· The organisation has a store/warehouse

· The organisation supports members with the transport of their products to the market

· The organisation is engaged in processing activities

· The organisation supports members’ home processing activities

· The organisation is facilitating quality control, traceability and/or certification

· The organisation is engaged in packaging and labelling

· ….

Member benefits

· Thanks to the organisation, members have reduced post-harvest losses

· Thanks to the organisation members are adding value to their products

15. MARKET LINKAGES AND MARKETING

GMP Points of attention

Score

Possible indicators

Current activities

· The organisation helps members to know the price of their products on different markets

· The organisation helps members to find clients for our products

· The organisation facilitates contract farming

· The organisation is engaged in the collective marketing of members’ products

· The organisation supports branding of the members’ products

· Members deliver their products on time and according to agreed volume and quality at the collection centre

· ….

Member benefits

· Thanks to the organisation, farmers can more easily sell their products

· Thanks to the organisation, members get higher prices for their products

Product and market development

In addition to supporting farmers with their economic activities, farmers’ organisations can defend the rights and interests of their members.

16. LOBBY. ADVOCACY AND NEGOTIATION

GMP Points of attention

Score

Possible indicators

Current activities

· The organisation represents members/farmers in meetings of the local Government

· The organisation represents members/farmers at high decision-making levels

· The organisation has defended farmers’ rights for .... topic ….

· The organisation has lobbied for .... topic …

· …

Member benefits

· Thanks to the organisation, the farmers’ voice is heard at decision making levels

· Thanks to the lobby and advocacy of the organisation, the conditions for farmers have improved

· …

Step 4: Mapping the scores for the 16 assessment domains

During the preceding steps, the 16 dimensions for assessing a farmers’ organisations. For many points of attention scores were given.

As explained, the scores range from zero (absolute minimum) to five (totally perfect score, with nothing left to improve). Intermediate scores (1-4) indicate: very weak (1), weak (2), average (3) and good performance (4), with related room for improvement.

These scores can be put in the GMP scoring and mapping tool (Excel). After putting in the scores in the indicated column, graphs are automatically generated for Governance, Management, and Performance separately, but also as one overview graph, such as the example on the next page.

Step 5: Identifying options for improving the GMP of the farmers’ organisation

The scores, the reasons given, and the graphs allow for making a good assessment. This is an external assessment, e.g. you are scoring and qualifying the PO for Governance, Management, and Performance. Another tools, FORCE, which has the same dimensions and points of attention, can be used for facilitating a self-assessment, e.g. farmers themselves scoring the Governance, Management and Performance of their organisation,

The tables below can be used to summarize the main conclusions for the dimensions of Governance, Management and Performance, and suggest what can be done to improve the current situation.

GOVERNANCE

Dimensions

Conclusions

What can/should be done to improve the current situation

Legal status and compliance with legislation

· ….

· ….

Cooperation among farmers’ organisations

· ….

· ….

Democratic member control

· ….

· ….

Member economic participation

· ….

· ….

Independence

· ….

· ….

Financial autonomy

· ….

· ….

MANAGEMENT

Dimensions

Conclusions

What can/should be done to improve the current situation

Staffing

· ….

· ….

Financial management

· ….

· ….

Planning

· ….

· ….

Implementation, monitoring & evaluation

· ….

· ….

PERFORMANCE

Dimensions

Conclusions

What can/should be done to improve the current situation

Access to inputs

· ….

· ….

Access to credit and financial services

· ….

· ….

GAP for optimizing yields and quality

· ….

· ….

Post-harvest value creation

· ….

· ….

Market relations and sales

· ….

· ….

Lobby, advocacy and negotiation

· ….

· ….

Annex 5: Guidelines Tool 5 - Value chain mapping and analysis

Exercise (part 1): sub-sector and value chain mapping

Requirements

We recommend using the following materials: flip chart, cards or post-its of different colors, marker pens of different colors.

Reflections before drawing

1. Think of the scope of your value chain analysis, e.g. the commodity, location and market boundaries of your case.

· The structure of your answer is: “My case is about the production zone X and commodity Y. The products of this commodity Y from production zone X go to the following markets: ……”.

· Example: Case of ginger products from Eastern Fiji, for local, national and international markets.

2. Think of the distance of end consumers, different market segments and product diversity (see bullet point 2).

· Distance of end consumers: farmer household (home consumption), the village/community of the farmer, local markets, provincial markets, national markets, regional and international markets.

· Market segments: poor consumers, middle class consumers and rich consumers (elite), who buy at different market outlets (open air markets, weekly markets, supermarkets, …).

· Product diversity: primary produce, graded primary produce (for instance grade A, B and C), processed and packed products, by-products.

Important questions to ask

Primary produce goes via many different roads to end consumers. To be prepared for value chain mapping analysis, the following are important questions to ask:

· Who are the actors on the value chains?

· Where is the (primary or processed) product sold? At farm level, local market, in a district or provincial town, the capital city, the region, the world market?

· To whom do farmers sell? To traders who come to the farm or the village, to wholesalers, to retailers, directly to consumers?

· Is the product stored, graded, processed? By whom?

· Into what products can the product be processed? Who are doing the processing? What intermediate and final products do they make? To whom do they sell?

· Which prices are being paid at the different levels of the value chains? By whom?

Four steps

Draw the value chains for the sub-sector and commodity of your case according to the following steps:

Step 1: basic map with the players and diversity of value chains. Use cards so you can move them around (1 card per player, 1 card per value adding activity).

Step 2: Indicate the value adding activities.

Step 3: Indicate the prices (if possible) that are paid at different levels (transactions).

Step 4: Indicate the distribution of the total production quantity from different producers to different market segments.

Step 1: basic map with actors

On the flip chart, draw the value chains for the commodity of your case. Steps:

· Think of all the possible/different ways, the product of your case can move from the producer to the consumer. List all actors involved in getting the product from the farm to the plate of the consumer (preferably on cards or on post-it’s so you can move them around)

· Arrange these value chain operators in the order of how the product moves from the field of the farmer to the fork of the consumer. This is the basic value chain map.

· Each particular combination of producer to consumer is a value chain. You will thus have quite some value chains.

· The consumer can be the family household (home consumption), neighbours and villagers, clients at local, national and international markets. Identify the customers/consumers at different levels.

· Intermediate players are local traders/brokers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, exporters, etc.

· Don’t oversimplify your map, identify the diversity of value chains, short and long ones, including processed pro