Improving Institutional Capacity:
Strengthening Farmer Organizations in the OIC Member Countries
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2. Farmer Organizations in OIC Member Countries
2.1. Overview of Farmer Organization and Policy Environment in the OIC
2.1.1. Introduction and Methodology
This section of the report examines the policy environment and current farmer organization
strength in the various OIC member countries. It includes a comparative overview of the
environment for FOs across the OIC in order to highlight trends that may guide COMCEC’s
efforts to strengthen them. As no central sources of FO data exist across the OIC, the analysis
was driven primarily by country-specific desk research, focusing on policy documents
published by the relevant ministries in each country, news reports on government programs
and policies, and reports and publications of international agricultural and cooperative
development bodies such as those mentioned in Section 4.2. Note that due to language
restrictions (research was conducted in English, French, and Arabic), and data availability, not
all countries are profiled in each area; rather, this section covers 85-90% of the total number
of OIC member countries21. Full, country-specific details for each research question are given
in the Annexes. Note that as this research was conducted using only publicly-available
documents, the latest positions and efforts of OIC member states and their governments may
not be fully captured in all cases; thus this section is not intended to allege any specific
deficiency on the part of the countries discussed.
This analysis aims to create a snapshot of the current country-level picture in two core areas
considered important to creating strong FOs:
 The policy Enabling Environment refers to government policies and structures that
make it easy for strong farmer organizations to form and grow. In an effort to create a
broad overview that covers the full set of OIC member countries, metrics include the
presence of a law allowing co-operatives to register and the presence of a government
department dedicated to strengthening co-operatives.
o A sub-category within Enabling Environment is Current Farmer Organization
Penetration; in other words, it assesses whether there is a critical mass of FOs
and linked farmers already in the country.
 The Market Structure refers to the presence or absence of market actors and
arrangements that make it easier for farmer organizations to have power. Metrics
include the presence of a national, independent coordinating body for FOs (to give FOs
power against other powerful actors) and the presence of a national marketing body.
Given the limitations of this study, attention is focused on the perceived most
important agricultural product (generally by production value) in a given country.
Note that a critical dimension in this category is control of the body – whether apex
bodies are controlled or linked to the government or whether they are independent.
These two areas present a view of a country’s framework (or lack thereof) to create and
nurture strong farmer organizations. Analysing these areas across OIC member countries can
yield an interesting perspective on how well-positioned the OIC and its different regions are to
see continuous progress in FO development. Standing alone, these dimensions do not
21 51 States out of the total OIC membership of 57 were profiled through the desk research process.