FARMER BASED ORGANISATIONS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE WEST MAMPRUSI DISTRICT

Abstract

Farmers usually operate in perfectly competitive markets where they purchase inputs, usually on an individual basis and cannot exert any bargaining power on market prices. Consequently, Farmer Based Organisations FBOs) have been recognised as a means for farmers to gain access to the support they need to improve food security and their livelihoods, The rise in FBOs is partly due to NG0s, government agencies and private investors who increasingly see collective action as an important means to achieve agri-business development objectives. While governments, donors and NGOs are investing increasingly in technology and infrastructure among others to reduce risks and increase returns, and facilitate farmers' participation in more integrated supply chains, the returns and effectiveness of these efforts in terms of adoption and sustainability by farmers, and their impact in terms of economic returns, is currently not reaching its HI potential. The foundation of the problem is the role of spatial and temporal coordination in programme delivery. Technology transfer process, as an element of agricultural development, has often been considered as linear, and has been dominated by top-down thinking and many projects involving FBOs do not pay enough attention to the social dimension of the development of sustainable organisations. The primary motive of this study was to establish whether FBOs contribute to community development in the West Mamprusi District using a case of the Farmers' Agricultural Production and Marketing (FAMAR) Project, The study provides useful information for strengthening and developing FBOs into viable groups for improved agriculture and community development. Interviews, questionnaire and focus group discussions were adopted to collect primary data. The survey used qualitative analysis such as descriptions and quantitative analysis which involved the use of Statistical Package for Social Scientists to analyse and present the findings of the study. The results revealed that though farmers' response to the project was low, FBOs contributed to community development. Provision of irrigation facilities, Integrating non-formal education into interventions and targeting medium to long term interventions will allow some time for FBOs to respond and benefit fully from the interventions.