Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI) organizes the international course “Organised farmers as partners in agribusiness” in Wageningen from September 17 to October 05, 2018. 

Can farmers improve their income and well-being through effective collective action? Join the course and take home many practical tools and approaches for promoting farmer entrepreneurship and strengthening farmers’ organisations that aim to arrive at farmer-inclusive agribusiness development.

Optimising the performance of producers’ organisations

Family farms constitute the majority of the world’s small and medium enterprises. These farms (have to) produce the food for a rapidly growing and increasing urban population. Through collective action of their organisations, farmers can improve their performance and income. Facilitators, equipped with practical approaches and tools, can do more to support farmers and their organisations.

Improving farmers’ performance and business relations

This course perceives farmers as autonomous entrepreneurs and their organisations as farmers’ business organisations. Both operate in dynamic market systems and have to deal with a range of public and private sector players, such as sourcing companies, banks and MFI’s, agro-input dealers, research, extension and others. The central question of the course is how farmers can improve their income and well-being through effective collective action of their organisations and improved relations with other stakeholders.

Course programme

For exploring how organsied farmers can become partners in agribusiness, the course will discuss many complementary topics such as farmer entrepreneurship, governance of farmers’ organisations, economic services that these organisations can deliver to their members, stakeholder collaboration, policy environment, promoting farmer-inclusive value chain development. Much attention is given to the introduction and sharing of practical tools. The course is highly interactive and action-oriented. Participants have the opportunity to learn from the broad international experience of the trainers and from other course participants. They will relate course topics to their work situation and work on their ‘farmer business cases’.

Course objectives

Upon completion of the course participants will:

• Be familiar with state-of-the-art thinking about farmer entrepreneurship, famers’ organisations and inclusive value chain development;
• Perceive ‘problems’ as ‘opportunities to approve’;
• Consider alternative intervention strategies to support farmers and their organisations;
• Be capable of using operational approaches and practical tools for facilitating collective action and market engagement of farmers’ organisations in your professional work context.

Target audience

This three-week course is aimed at professionals interested in the promotion of farmer-inclusive agribusiness. WCDI welcomes professionals from farmers’ organisations, governmental organisations, private sector, civil society organisations, universities, research and extension. Proficiency in English is required.

More information

For practical information, to download the factsheet and to register online, please visit the WCDI website.