Effective farmers confronting climate change
By Ana María Loboguerrero (a) and Bruce M. Campbell (b)
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Recent research from diverse contexts points to the importance of “local” in driving climate adaptation. Farmer organizations and their networks are potentially crucial for three reasons: (a) with effective local networking they can share, learn and innovate; (b) with effective organization they can act as aggregators, in order to better obtain finance, access markets and benefit from higher prices; and (c) with an effective voice, they can influence policy makers. Effective is the key!
Networking to stimulate sharing, learning and innovation
What do the following three examples have in common? (1) Farmers for Climate Action, a movement of farmers, agricultural leaders and rural Australians working to ensure that farmers are part of the solution to climate change; (2) farmer-led greening in Tigray, previously an epicenter of famine and now largely food self-sufficient and greener than ever; and (3) Wefarm, a farmer-to-farmer digital network with more than a million users across Kenya and Uganda. The answer is simple: all of them represent successful cases of effective local networking that has been translated into concrete benefits for farmers, through a diversity of mechanisms.
However, farmers’ organizations are not a simple recipe for success. According to Aleksandra Dolinska and Patrick d'Aquino in their recent paper examining a dairy cooperative, unequal power dynamics may limit effectiveness. Loan Thi Phan and colleagues also noted that the gender imbalances in organizations can negatively impact women.
Union becomes power
The theory is easy to understand: in general, small-scale farmers in developing countries face market imperfections that lead to high transaction costs of accessing input and output markets, at the same time that they face poor access to credit and low bargaining power. Numerous studies suggest that these constraints could be overcome if small-scale farmers were organized into collective action groups. Nevertheless, empirical studies find varied levels of success and benefits of agricultural cooperatives. The latter does not imply that the theory is wrong, however, and under some circumstances collective action groups can become powerful. In particular, administrative and skill competence of the managers of these groups and the level of members’ participation can determine the success of cooperatives (Mojo et al., 2017). At the same time, sub-Saharan Africa has demonstrated that democratic governance, homogeneous groups of optimal size, and transparent and market-led farmer organizations can enhance farmers’ access to markets (Shiferaw et al. 2011).
What can a united, strong voice accomplish?
According to Julio Berdegué and colleagues, the sectoral and organizational diversity of territorial economic structures and the intensity of interactions among them is one of the five factors that facilitated development among 10,000 territories in 11 countries in Latin America. The study suggests that positive developments depend on “transformative social coalitions” characterized by a convergence in the vision and actions of diverse social actors that are committed to sustained action over a long period of time. As Pierre-Marie Bosc and colleagues conclude, the level of influence on policy that local organizations can bring to bear is often linked to their ability to forge alliances within the rural world or to partner with other actors in civil society or with the private sector.
So now what?
Rural societies have an essential, yet often ignored role in the global discourse on finding climate change adaptation solutions, and an essential role in fostering action. However, the rural voice is seldom heard. Farmers organizations have a key role to play. What needs to happen? Farmer organizations themselves need to reflect on, and improve, their effectiveness, as problems in leadership and gender inequality will undermine their roles. Governments can help by investing in capacity building for farmers’ organizations, and providing the enabling regulatory and legal frameworks for better governance. Public and private sector actors can invest in developing creative and innovative networking mechanisms such as digital platforms that can mobilize and connect farmers. To increase their voice and role in influencing policy, farmers’ organizations need to develop powerful networks with other stakeholders.
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References
- Berdegué JA, Escobal J, Bebbington A. 2015. Explaining spatial diversity in Latin American rural development: Structures, institutions, and coalitions. World Development 73:129–137.
- Bosc PM, Piraux M, Dulcire M. 2015. Contributing to innovation, policies and local democracy through collective action. In: Sourisseau JM, ed. Family Farming and the Worlds to Come. Dordrecht: Springer. p 145–160.
- Dolinska A, d'Aquino P. 2016. Farmers as agents in innovation systems. Empowering farmers for innovation through communities of practice. Agricultural Systems 142:122–130.
- Mojo D, Fischer C, Degefa T. 2017. The determinants and economic impacts of membership in coffee farmer cooperatives: recent evidence from rural Ethiopia. Journal of Rural Studies 50:84–94.
- Phan LT, Jou SC and Lin JH. 2019. Gender Inequality and Adaptive Capacity: The Role of Social Capital on the Impacts of Climate Change in Vietnam. Sustainability 11:1257.
- Shiferaw B, Hellin J, Muricho G. 2011. Improving market access and agricultural productivity growth in Africa: what role for producer organizations and collective action institutions? Food Security 3:475–489.
- Thornton P, Dinesh D, Cramer L, Loboguerrero AM, Campbell B. 2018. Agriculture in a changing climate: Keeping our cool in the face of the hothouse. Outlook on Agriculture 47:283–290.
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Authors' affiliations and contact details:
(a) CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT); a.m.loboguerrero@cgiar.org
(b) CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), University of Copenhagen; b.campbell@cgiar.org
The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the authors' affiliated institutions, nor their donors.
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