IFPRI, in collaboration with the World Bank and FAO, organized a workshop on farmer based organizations (FBOs) in Africa that was held in Dakar, Senegal from December 8-9, 2011. The workshop brought together stakeholders to draw on their experience and knowledge as well as establish a shared and up-to-date diagnostic of past programs in support of African FBOs.
Participants for this stakeholders’ workshop included policy-makers, FBO representatives, private sector and researchers to provide evidence regarding the successes and failures of previous support to FBOs and their micro-level impact on smallholder farmers in Africa. In particular, three programs from Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon that provided support to FBOs were presented and evaluated at the workshop. The three programs examined were the Millennium Development Authority’s Commercial Development of Farmer-Based Organizations Program (Ghana), FAO’s Agricultural Commodities Program (Cameroon), and the World Bank’s Programme de Services Agricoles et Organisations de Producteurs (Senegal).
GSSP sent a team including GSSP staff, leaders from three FBOs and the Chief Operating Officer of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to discuss the genesis, conduct, and impact of MiDA’s support to FBOs. For more information, please read our brief note on discussion and findings from the workshop.