Improving Institutional Capacity:
Strengthening Farmer Organizations in the OIC Member Countries
82
principle the OIC Member Countries should re-affirm the principle of farmer
organization autonomy and publicly affirm the independence of apex farmer organizations.
Experts note that excessive government presence may discourage farmers from aligning with
FOs, and may reduce members’ sense of ownership, which, as discussed, is a crucial
component of good FO governance121.
The case studies revealed that FOs within the OIC suffer from the same types of challenges
common to FOs across the world, with access to resources for service provision being a
particular challenge. The FOs profiled in Section 3 desire to support their members in all
phases of farming, from the provision of inputs and technical knowledge to the negotiation of
prices with buyers, to the provision of value-added processing and logistics services that
enable their members to obtain a larger share of the final value of their agricultural products.
However, these FOs run into resource constraints – both financial and technical – frequently
and as a result are not able to achieve their highest ambitions.
Addressing this challenge starts by recognizing that FOs are asked to play a more significant
role in today’s post-liberalization, globalized agriculture economy than they were in the past.
With freer trade flows and less influence in crop marketing, governments face a declining
resource envelope and continued financial constraints. 122 This has meant that many activities
traditionally provided by the government – agricultural extension, inputs provision or subsidy,
and even social and educational development – must often be provided by FOs if they are to be
provided at all. This situation was a prominent concern of the FOs interviewed during this
research.
In light of this, some recommendations emerge for the OIC Member Countries. The first is for
Member Countries to advocate for increased budgetary allocations for government
extension, input support, and small-scale infrastructure development that FOs can
benefit from, while ensuring that FO voices are heard in consultations between agricultural
development funders and the governments of OIC member countries – a policy that IFAD, for
example, emphasizes when developing country-level intervention plans123. Related to this, it is
recommended that each Member Country’s ministry of agriculture establishes a dedicated
body to work with farmer organizations and build their capacity. At the moment, such a body
was not identified in 27% of countries covered by the research. Even where such bodies do
exist, a workshop could be organized to discuss the appropriate mandate and
organizational structure for such bodies (with participation from FOs and international
experts in addition to ministry representatives), so that they can be most effective in their role
of supporting farmer organizations.
Another way of addressing the resource challenge is the advancement of smallholder-
focused financial services in the OIC. As discussed in Sectio banks – Islamic and non-
Islamic - across the OIC are experimenting with and introducing financial products expressly
intended to benefit farmer organizations. This line of experimentation appears to be a very
promising one to support, as access to credit remains one of the most critical obstacles to
overcome in order to strengthen farmer organizations. Here, market research could be
121 Polat, Huseyin, “Cooperatives in the Arab World: Reaffirming their validity for local and regional development”, ILO 2010
122 FAO, “Producer organisations: Reclaiming opportunities for development”, 2010; also IFAD, “The Farmers’ Forum in Asia
& the Pacific Region: Consultations In 2005”. For a broader discussion on liberalization and its effect on government services
to farmers, see Onumah, Gideon et al, “Empowering Smallholder Farmers in Markets: Changing Agricultural Marketing
Systems and Innovative Responses by Producer Organizations”, 2007
123 IFAD, “IFAD and Farmer Organizations – Partnerships in Progess”, 2012