Purpose of this guide

This guide explains the advantages farmers can gain by using small group approaches to solve their food production problems.

Benefits of farmer groups

How farmers benefit:

Working through small groups, farmers can reduce the cost of accessing inputs, production technologies, information and markets by sharing these costs amongst all members of the group. This means lower individual costs.

• Lower input costs: by bulk purchasing inputs through groups, farmers obtain bulk sale discounts from suppliers and can share transport costs.
• Lower information costs: through groups, farmers can link up with government extension services by sharing costs in accessing these services (e.g. travel costs to the nearest extension agency, buying a transistor radio, etc.)
• Lower cost of financial services: through groups, farmers can open group savings and/or credit accounts offered by financial institutions at reduced individual expense.
• Reduced marketing and selling costs: through groups, marketing farmers can share storage, processing, transport and selling costs. Lower costs per farmer mean higher profits.

How governments benefit:

Governments obtain several advantages by working through farmer groups.

• more cost-effective delivery of extension services to farmers, especially small famers: working through groups, government extensionists can reach more farmers, at no increase in cost.
• increases small farmer access to financial services: through group approaches, governments and banking institutions reach more farmers at little increase in cost.
• more efficient delivery of farm inputs and marketing of output: through group approaches efficiencies in the delivery of inputs and marketing of output are improved. This translates into lower consumer prices.

Group Formation at local level

Group formation is ideally done by farmers themselves. This process can be facilitated by locally identified and specially trained Group Promoters (GPs), who assist the group development process and act as intermediaries between the groups and outside providers of services. Some basic rules of group formation are:

1. Encourage group action:

• Do not impose anything; groups should be based on farmer needs not those of outsiders.

• Work with farmers to identify their problems and prioritize them.
• Help them assess their group self-help capacities, their strengths and resources for solving those problems.
• Assist in identifying areas for group action only where the benefits outweigh the costs.

2. Discuss group formation

• Go slowly- forming healthy groups takes time. Work to gain the people’s confidence and trust. Listen and show them respect.
• Call village meetings. Discuss food security issues and identify how a group approach might be used to help solve those problems.
• Discuss goals and expectations. Remind people that the advantages of group action are realized through hard work, self-sacrifice and a clear focus on realistic group objectives.
• Focus on individual profitability. Group action must make economic sense to each farmer. Individual incomes earned through the group earned should exceed expenses.
• Assess all the benefits and costs of cooperation. Ask the people what they will gain from participation and what will it cost in terms of self-sacrifice. Do all the benefits outweigh all the costs?

3. Establish groups

• Encourage small groups (5-20 members). Farmers learn more quickly in small groups than in larger ones. There is more trust and information is shared more freely.
• Ensure that group members share a common bond homogeneous (members should have similar interests and backgrounds). A common bond means less disputes and more efficient learning.
• Promote groups that are voluntary and democratic. Members should decide through majority vote, or consensus, who joins the group, who will lead them, what rules to follow, and what activities they will undertake.
• Help the group choose a name for itself. Names are important. They help build a group’s identity and promote member solidarity.
• Assist it in setting realistic objectives. Group members must reach consensus on what will be done, by whom and when.
• Urge groups to meet regularly. Frequent meetings are desirable during the early learning stage. Stress the need for regular attendance.

4. Aim at group self-reliance

For the benefits of group action to continue even after outside assistance ceases, the groups must become self-reliant and cohesive units. This requires training:

• Ensure that leadership develops and gets shared. A group should not depend too much on a single individual.
• Highlight the importance of member contributions. Regular group savings are essential and should be encouraged. Member contributions to group activities help build a sense of group ownership and solidarity
• Encourage simple record keeping. Records help the group remember what has been decided at meetings and keep track of contributions, income and expenses. They are essential for monitoring group business activities.

Further Reading:

• The group promoter’s resource book, FAO (1994)
• The group enterprise resource book, FAO (1996)

Scaling up

Small groups have their limits. Encouraging small groups to link up into larger inter-group associations, once they have achieved satisfactory self-reliance, say after 2-3 years, can further increase their marketing power and economies-of-scale.

But inter-group associations are more complex and difficult to manage than small groups and require different approaches and methods. New guidelines are needed.

Further Reading:

• The group association resource book, FAO (1999)

Favourable policy environments

Farmer groups are best promoted where legal and policy conditions favour such forms of cooperation and when the government confines its role to that of a facilitator rather than a controller.

• The legal and policy environment should encourage rural participation and the formation of informal self-help groups.
• Rural people should be allowed to organize their own group businesses and concerns.
• The government should encourage the development of rural communication systems that facilitate information exchange and networking.
• Assistance programmes should aim at developing group self-help capacities. Too much financial assistance can create dependencies.

Further Reading:

• People’s Participation in Rural Development, the FAO Plan of Action, FAO (1991)