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Editorial – Against the grain
September 23rd, 2012

The past decade has witnessed the growing and strengthening of peasant and family farmers’ movements around the world: organisations such as La Via Campesina, ROPPA, PROPAC and AFA have strengthened their voices in regional and global fora. Organisations of small-scale ecological producers are growing at both local and national levels. Peasants and family farmers are … Read more

Farmer organisations are challenging us!
September 23rd, 2012

Farmer organisations can be both effective and efficient in training their own members. Their work, however, also reminds us that agricultural training is not just a technical field. Their commitment to agro-ecology shows that, above all, training is a political issue – and they’re challenging us to follow them. Since the 1990s, the closure of … Read more

Women, families and communities in Aceh
September 23rd, 2012

In 2004 the province of Aceh in Indonesia was affected by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The impact on rural communities was particularly harsh, exacerbating the existing poverty and poor living conditions caused by a long separatist conflict. A network of women farmers established under these difficult circumstances is not only benefitting its participants, but … Read more

Opinion: Beyond value chains
September 23rd, 2012

Farmers need to participate in the processes that shape all rules and regulations, argues Christian Gouët.An approach such as the Participatory Generation of Positions and Proposals (PGPP) can help link these organisations with policy makers. Most capacity building programmes for farmers and their organisations focus on the development of the skills needed for linking them … Read more

Managing biodiversity – Nepal’s BCDCs
September 23rd, 2012

Many projects and development efforts fail because they do not pay sufficient attention to ensuring that farmers’ organisations represent all farmers, or to using participatory processes to identify and address the problems farmers face. Nepal’s Biodiversity Conservation and Development Committees (BCDCs), which aim to conserve and utilise local crop species and varieties, focus on both … Read more

Learning about … Organising communities for agro-ecology
September 23rd, 2012

How can individual households within a community work together to address challenges of food security and rehabilitate the natural resource base? Together with its partners, Resource Efficient Agricultural Production Canada (REAP-Canada) has developed an approach called the Agro- Ecological Village (AEV), which attempts to reach this goal. The AEV is a participatory approach to rural … Read more

Hard work – Finding rules that keep a group together
September 23rd, 2012

In spite of their differences, there are some essential features that are common to all farmer organisations. One of these is the need to find a balance between their interests as a group and the interests of its individual members. How – and when – is this balance found? Following the framework to analyse the … Read more

Mind! New in print / More on farmer organisations
September 23rd, 2012

Reclaim the UN from corporate capture / Beekeeping training for farmers in the Himalayas / To cook a continent / Learning for sustainability in times of accelerating change / Women reclaiming sustainable livelihoods / The great food robbery and more Reclaim the UN from corporate capture FOEI, 2012. Friends of the Earth International, Amsterdam. 32 … Read more

Locally rooted: Ideas and initiatives from the field
September 23rd, 2012

Examples from all over the world show that collective action is the most efficient and sustainable way for farmers to achieve higher incomes. Beyond the economic benefits, however, farmer organisations support their members and local communities in many other ways. Sudan: Associations make the difference Sudan is the world’s largest producer of gum arabic. Consisting … Read more

“Nothing about us without us!” : The strength of farmer organisations
September 23rd, 2012

Whatever farmers want to achieve, they are more likely to achieve it if they get organised. This is why Agriterra, a Dutch organisation for agricultural development co-operation, supports associations of farmers, regardless of their type. According to surveys, 14 percent of the readers of this magazine are farmers. We would like the other 86% to … Read more