Research Workshop on Collective Action and Market Access for Smallholders

 October 2-5, 2006, Cali, Colombia. Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi/CGIAR)

The opportunity for smallholders to raise their incomes from agricultural production, natural resource management and related rural enterprises increasingly depends on their ability to compete in the marketplace. Not only are they competing with fellow farmers, they are also more and more in competition with farmers from overseas and agribusiness sectors in national and international markets. To maintain their position in the market, farmers need to be better organized, have access to new technologies and tap into new information systems, particularly if they are to tap into the new opportunities for high value markets.

One of the key issues that research, public and private sector, and civil society development projects and programs are addressing is to strengthen the ability of agricultural producers to organize themselves to compete on local, national or even international markets, and to help them invest in value addition and marketing of their produce.

This research workshop aimed to enhance the conceptual and empirical understanding of the role of collective action institutions (e.g. rules and norms, producer organizations, cooperatives, etc.) in improving market access for the rural poor.

Given coordination failures in rural markets, due to the vacuum left by the lack of effective state involvement and the underdevelopment of the private sector in areas with limited market infrastructure, the workshop will highlight the need for alternative institutional or non-market arrangements. Of special importance is the question how collective action can contribute to remedy the existing inefficiencies, coordination problems or barriers to contract formation. To accomplish this, the workshop will assess the extent to which collective action for improving market access for the oor has contributed to intensification of production, adoption of new technologies, diversification of income, improved market participation and poverty reduction.

While focusing on these general aspects, the workshop also examined the diverse opportunities and constraints that different groups of producers and traders such as indigenous communities, women groups, farmer cooperatives, and others face in organizing to increase their market shares.

Papers addressed these overall concerns and at least one of the following themes:

• Collective Action to access which markets? Farmers groups are not a silver bullet; there are instances where they work well and others where they are not effective. This theme will focus on how organizing producers to gain market access may differ with respect to the scale of the markets.
• Collective Action for which types of products? Papers establish possible alternative roles for collective action in relation to different product types and clarify how collective action could be a suitable strategy to increase the market share of smallholders in alternative markets.
• How to organize producers? Who organizes producers? Papers reflect on the questions of how producers and traders may self-organize or be assisted to organize themselves and the role for government, private sector and NGOs in facilitating these processes.

Papers presented at the conference are accessible as drafts here (not for citation, since revisions are expected).

Farmer Group Enterprises and the Marketing of Staple Food Commodities
by Jonathan Coulter

The Role of ICT, Market Information and Collective Marketing in Responding to Market Dynamics in Eastern Africa
by Shaun Ferris, Patrick Engoru, and Elly Kaganzi

Milk Market Access for Smallholders: A Case of Informal Milk Trader Groups in Kenya
by J. Sinja, L. Njoroge, H. Mbaya, H. Magara, E. Mwangi, I. Baltenweck, D. Romney, and A. Omore

Collective action to which markets? The case of Agroforestry Tree Seeds Association of Lantapan (ATSAL) in the Philippines
by Delia Catacutan, Manuel Bertomeu, Lyndon Arbes, Caroline Duque, and Novie Butra

A Farmers Company for Better Price: Case of Chandrika Wewa Farmers' Company, Sri Lanka
by Deeptha Wijerathna and Samyuktha Varma

African Leafy Vegetables Evolves from Underutilized Species to Commercialized Cash Crops for Poor Urban and Peri-Urban Women Farmers in Nairobi
by Stanley Mwangi

Role of Local Institutions in Linking Small Ruminant Producers to Market
by Malika Abdelali-Martini, Aden Aw-Hassan, and Hisham Salahieh

Collective Action for Small-Scale Producers of Agricultural Biodiversity Products
by Alessandra Giuliani, Menno Keizer, and Froukje Kruijssen

Collective Action and Marketing of Underutilized Plant Species: The Case of Minor Millets in Kolli Hills, Tamil Nadu, India
by Guillaume P. Gruère, Latha Nagarajan, and E.D.I. Oliver King