Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Access of the poor to agricultural services: the role of farmers’ organizations

The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) has published a dossier on the role of rural producers' organizations in inclusive innovation systems; it focuses on the role that farmers’ organizations play in enhancing the poorest farmers’ access to agricultural advisory services such as research, training, advice and extension.

Farmers’ organizations can play a key role in agricultural innovation, since they have the capacity to pool, aggregate and disseminate knowledge and information. Moreover, they are increasingly positioned in both service networks and supply chains to coordinate activities and promote an enabling environment for innovation.

The services that are being provided to members, whether by farmers’ organizations themselves or by third parties, include knowledge services such as agricultural research, advisory (extension and technology dissemination) and other types of farmer training.

The dossier presents an analytical framework, and the findings and recommendations from a case study.It also outlines KIT's involvement, and provides resources, a glossary, and news.