Issue 44 : Markets, smallholders and empowerment

The challenge of political empowerment

24 March 2012

Economic empowerment must be complemented by political empowerment

In the struggle over ideas in the development arena, terms that are associated with more radical perspectives are often picked up by mainstream actors and organisations. And this has been the case with ‘empowerment’. But such mainstreaming can cause original meanings to be modified or become obscure. From the perspective of strategies that aim to improve the well-being of small-scale farmers, there are various risks inherent in the way the term ‘empowerment’ has been taken up by international and bilateral development agencies.

Search Terms:

community empowerment

advocacy

civil society

policy

analytical frameworks

Peter Utting (Deputy Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, UNRISD - The author is writing in his personal capacity)

Empowering women pays

26 March 2012

The importance of women in Ghanaian cocoa

As support for agriculture climbs up the policy agenda, the spotlight is increasingly focused on smallholder farmers. But one dimension of this is still being regularly overlooked – the role of women on smallholder farms. Markets for agricultural commodities are increasingly linked to the value chains of large food manufacturers and retailers.

Search Terms:

research

case studies

africa

rural development

analytical frameworks

Stephanie Barrientos (Brooks World Poverty Institute at the School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, UK)

Feature: Making markets work for smallholders?

23 March 2012

Capacity and agency

The polarised debate on how markets can work for or against the interests of small-scale farmers, presents major challenges for practitioners. This article aims to rebalance our thinking about smallholders and markets.

Search Terms:

rural development

casestudies

policy

analytical frameworks

Policy: The woes of rural wage labour

24 March 2012

The limitations of inclusiveness

Smallholder agriculture is back on the global policy agenda. This is because of the growing demand for food and because the livelihoods of billions of people depend on small farms. However, farm wage labour remains largely ignored.

Search Terms:

rural development

social protection

policy

analytical frameworks

Sukhpal Singh (Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India)

Guest Column: Contract farming can work

26 March 2012

Improving the bargaining power of small farmers

Recent years have seen an upsurge in large-scale land purchases by foreign investors, which can lead to peasant evictions and social upheaval. But less attention has been paid to the parallel rise in contract farming arrangements, which can also endanger the rights of smallholders and contribute to the disempowerment of farmers within the food system. However, contract farming is a market-based approach that can work – provided that it is underpinned by respect for human rights, a focus on the right to food and strong institutional supervision.

Search Terms:

sustainable development

community empowerment

policy

analytical frameworks

Olivier De Schutter (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food)

Policy: The price of empowerment

24 March 2012

Fair trade competes with other certification brands

Over the last couple of years, certification brands of coffee have steadily increased their volume of sales in Northern consumer markets, with an ever broader portfolio of products. On the face of it, this appears to be good news for groups of small producers who sell their coffee through these certification schemes. However, the growth figures are significantly lower for the brand that is most committed to working with farmers organisations, the Fair Trade Labelling Organizations (FLO), also known as Fairtrade International, which brings together 25 fair trade initiatives from around the world.

Search Terms:

policy

case studies

global

inclusive business

sustainable development

community empowerment

Giel Ton (LEI Wageningen UR, the Netherlands)

Jennie van der Mheen (LEI Wageningen UR, the Netherlands)

Lorenzo Castillo (Junta Nacional del Café, Peru)

What future for Vietnamese bamboo?

25 March 2012

Government intervention – essential for an enabling environment

In eastern China, thousands of smallholders generate substantial incomes from bamboo. But across the border in Vietnam where conditions are, if anything, more favourable, smallholders are moving out of bamboo. An opportunity will go to waste here unless local authorities take the initiative.

Search Terms:

case studies

inclusive business

rural development

asia

policy

Olivier Renard (Institut de recherches et d'application des méthodes de développement (IRAM))

CD Monitor: A sea change in agri-food

24 March 2012

Expanding development in the inclusive agri-food market

Over the next few decades, there will be extensive and unprecedented change in global agri-food systems. When taken together, the growing demand for food, the effects of climate change, the need to respond to poverty and hunger and the rapid decline of natural resources mean that ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option. A new perspective is needed if the agri-food sector is to be able to maintain secure supplies and guarantee food security. Innovation and growth in the sector must focus on how to expand, secure and distribute supplies in an inclusive and sustainable way – and that point needs to be reached fast.

Search Terms:

private sector

knowledge-sharing

communities of practice

sustainable development

LenCD case stories database

24 March 2012

Case stories are an important and accessible way of sharing experiences and learning lessons. Many organisations publish case stories on their websites, but finding these stories has always required a good deal of research.

LenCD (Learning Network on Capacity Development), has been building up an index of case stories including material from the United Nations Development Programme, the Task Team on South–South Cooperation, SNV, the World Bank Institute, ECDPM, and other sources.

More than 500 case stories have now been catalogued and are searchable by country and by keyword on www.lencd.org/case-stories.

Editorial: Markets, smallholders and empowerment

24 March 2012

Small-scale farms are a source of hope and despair. Despair because over half of the one billion people who live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day depend on these farms for their livelihoods; and a source of hope because small-scale farms are seen as the way to achieve food security for a world population that is expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050.