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Wed, 28 Mar 2018 16:09:13 +0000
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Hello,
it is us again, — while we did not receive input on all four questions in Topic #1 - "Cooperation among small farms”, I do not want to delay distributing the input for too long, so we can keep the discussion going (while still trying to avoid sending you all too many emails). :-)

Just a reminder, the four questions on Topic #1 were:
1.1.  What are different experiences of small farms’ cooperation in other regions? How has this changed over the past 10 years?
1.2.  Could you provide specific examples of the advantages and/or disadvantages of cooperation among small farms?
1.3.  Are there any forms of collaboration between small farms that work particularly well? Why? How does the size of the farm affect cooperation?
1.4    In what way does gender influence cooperation among small farms? Please share experiences from your region.

Here comes the aggregation:

Q1.1/7: Question: "1.1.  What are different experiences of small farms’ cooperation in other regions? How has this changed over the past 10 years?”

1/ From: Dr.Mahesh Chander <[log in to unmask]> (India)
(This is a reply on Teresa’s question: "In Southern European countries there are soft skills required for a fruitful colaboration among small farmers, which is an issue. Small farmers, as many other groups in society, do not have the soft skills which are needed for cooperation to be established with a larger group, in the long run. Is this an issue in other contries and how is the issue tackled, to enhance the cooperation skills?”)

To which Mahesh answers:
It's interesting to me: "to establish cooperation, farmers need soft skills", says Teresa Pinto Correia in context of Southern European countries.
Though not addressed much in formal documents, soft skills matter elsewhere too! Many a time groups fail due to misunderstandings, conflicts, lack of empathy or simply poor communication ability and lack of common sense & trust deficit including inability to see things from larger perspectives.

The Self Help Groups (SHGs) & cooperatives in India often fail due to lack of soft skills though many other reasons are highlighted for their failure. This interesting dimension need attention of researchers and policy makers.

2/ From: Ellison Musimuko <[log in to unmask]> (Zambia)
I am Ellison Musimuko and work for the Zambia Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock

Over the past 10 years small scale dairy farmers have changed towards a more organised and coordinated way of doing their business. Some of the cooperatives are able to save money in SACORD accounts. The money raised has been use to buy simple milk processing equipment. A case study is the FISENGE dairy, Mpima and Choma Dairy cooperatives.

However, we have challenges in establishing a well organised groups in fodder production. Farmers have a conflict interest during the time (of creating the cooperative). They have choose whether to plant fodder or maize crops. As result we have difficulties to organise them, with a few exceptions, e.g. one cooperative in Maka, the western province of Zambia, which is able to market their fodder.

3/ From: Pedro Cerrada Serra <[log in to unmask]> (Spain)
My name is Pedro Cerrada, I am finishing my PhD on Economics agriculture at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), a partner at SALSA project.

I would like to share two innovative (at least it is in my region) cooperation experiences.

Formal cooperation:
Citrus is one of the main crops cultivated in Valencia (Spain) and neighbouring areas. It is mainly an export-oriented culture that traditionally has provided part-time farmers with a high economic return while not demanding a labour-intensive work.
However, in the last decades, an important fall in sales prices together with risen production costs has meant that field abandonment is not unusual. The lack of profit also compromises the generational renewal. Small-scale farmers usually gather in their towns cooperatives. Field abandonment and lack of innovation (usually innovation comes hand in hand with younger farmers) makes cooperatives to lose competitiveness and members. Most recently an initiative is being developed (where the UPV is collaborating) to boost social innovation in land management.
Cooperative members are asked to transfer their land rights to the cooperative for an appropriate period of time and in turn the cooperative put in production abandoned fields, or make the required investments to change to new varieties of higher commercial value or put in place any other appropriate changes.
Managing larger production may lead for instance to diversify varieties and extend the productive period adapting to market requirements. It is expected that this kind of social innovation will help the cooperative (and their members) to be competitive again and hopefully to survive. Here I leave a video explaining the experience  (in Spanish, I am afraid) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWlFRSs_ERk

Informal cooperation:
In the peri-urban area of the city of Valencia (Spain), very small fruit and veg agro-ecological producers engage in informal cooperation. Similarly to other examples already mentioned in other countries, there exist frequent relations of mutual assistance.
Some examples include to exchange products or seedlings or to place a grouped order for obtaining better prices. Also it is not unusual sharing experiences and knowledge or that more veteran producer help novel producers. A very interesting cooperation develops between these agroecological/organic producers and local social movements championing land protection and shorter food supply from sustainable local producers.
These organizations are helping to build-up higher-scale platforms where small producers can meet with other actors and increase their advocacy capacity.

____________________________________


Q1.3/5: Question: "1.3.  Are there any forms of collaboration between small farms that work particularly well? Why? How does the size of the farm affect cooperation?”

From: Viviane CdV <[log in to unmask]> (Italy)
"The best way to work together is independence”.

Key success factors:
1) Cooperatives have to become “a legal entity” e.g. paying VAT taxes and properly registered. This way, the cooperative becomes an actual entity.
2) no debts between members
3) the size of the land (from each individual farmer) is not important. It does not affect “their vote”.






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