Improving Institutional Capacity:

Strengthening Farmer Organizations in the OIC Member Countries

training purposes, and build capacity in farmer organizations who produce feed for the

livestock industry

OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID)

While not strictly an intra-OIC body, there is substantial overlap between the members of

OPEC and the OIC, with almost 90% of OPEC oil production occurring in OIC member

countries. OFID is a development finance institution established in 1976 to contribute to the

social and economic development of emerging and least developed countries. OFID works

closely with a number of OIC member state organisations including the Abu Dhabi Fund for

Development, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Arab Fund for Economic

and Social Development, the IDB, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the

Saudi Fund for Development.

As of 2013, OFID had dedicated a cumulative US$ 2.07bn to agriculture (13% of its budget).

OFID and Standard Bank announced in 2010 the launch of a unique African development

financing agreement, to benefit farmer organizations in the region. This initiative a smallholder

risk sharing agreement, launched in partnership with AGRA, Kilimo Trust, Millennium

Development Agency in Ghana, and the Millennium Challenge Account Mozambique. The

objective of the initiative is to make agricultural finance more accessible to smallholder

farmers and SME agricultural producers through cooperative mechanisms. This scheme

consists of a three year program in which the first loss partners provide the Bank with a first

loss guarantee and assist with technical support to improve agricultural efficiencies. OFID

agreed to provide 50% coverage on the remainder of Standard Bank’s potential risk. The

facility comprised of disbursements of US$216m over three years in Ghana, Mozambique,

Uganda and Tanzania.

Another example of OFID’s work with farmer organizations is in Senegal, where OFID

contributed $31 million to finance the rehabilitation of FO-owned irrigation infrastructure and

also helped village-level producer organizations construct additional infrastructure to allow

them to diversify out of groundnuts and into value chains such as poultry.

The

Turkish Cooperation Agency

(TIKA) is an implementing intermediary of Turkish foreign

policy, in particular in countries which have shared values with Turkey and other areas of need

across the world. The agricultural projects carried out by TIKA include providing technical

assistance to increase the capacity of institutions and providing equipment, training, and

inputs for farmers and their organizations. One such example is a project aimed at encouraging

the participation of women in agricultural development efforts in Pakistan, where women’s co-

operatives were given livestock to rear.

2.2.3.

Pro-Farmer Organization finance in OIC Member Countries

One of the main challenges that farmer organizations face is lack of access to credit, which is

needed to purchase inputs for their members to improve productivity, and also to purchase

output from their members in order to support marketing efforts. Significant attention has

been focused across the world on financial sector deepening as a means to support farmer

organizations, and thus it is worth a brief look at some activities occurring within the OIC.

Cameroon North West Development Authority, “EOI For The Recruitment Of A Consultant To Provide Various Services For

Training, Capacity Building And Organisation Of Workshops For The Livestock And Fisheries Development Project”, January

2014.