Farmers’ Association Training Materials - China Canada Agriculture Development Program Farmers’ Association Development Strategy

The first step in the FA development process is to help the farmers gain awareness of the problem and to help them develop an understanding of the actions they can take to address the problem. [...] If some members of a group (e.g., women) are excluded from the discussion and input, the facilitator needs to challenge the group about the fairness and the efficacy of the process that was used. [...] (d) Processing: How is the farm product processed? Is the quality of the product important in how it is processed? Is the quality of the processed product important? On what does the quality of the processed product depend? What is the structure of the sectors involved in processing? Is R&D important for the processing firms? What other inputs do the processors need besides the farm input? What su. [...] (Each group should receive only the relevant sheet for that group.) Explain that one group will be working on the association side of the exercise while the remainder of the groups will be working on the business side of the exercise. [...] The total interest to be paid will be equal to 5 percent of the total operating costs, where the total operating costs are equal to the sum of the cost of materials, the cost of labour, and the cost of land and buildings.