Rikolto together with Uganda Cooperative Alliance organized half day Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance (AMEA) workshop at UCA headquarters in Kampala on defining professional farmer organizations.
Uganda cooperative Alliance which an umbrella body for all registered cooperatives in the country took this opportunity to host AMEA workshop given its role in capacity building of cooperative especially when it comes to cooperatives in agriculture sector that deal in coffee, cotton and cassava on large scale.
AMEA aims for more effective and sustainable development of professional farmer organizations. Given population growth, poverty, low yield low income and luck of access to finance, change is essential.
The workshop was highly attended by key stake holders from mainly Uganda –based companies and international organizations working in the field of agriculture. It introduced the participants to the international workshop agreement (IWA) process to develop the global definition for professional farmer organizations.
An Independent International Standards Organization (ISO) process to define professional farmer organization will provide market actor, capacity builders, commodity certification schemes and regulators with a common language around the required core capacities for farmer organization to be considered professional and thus better suitable for market engagement.
By agreeing to a global definition of what makes a professional farmer organization AMEA support capacity building to help farmer organizations such as cooperatives access markets and finance or improving livelihoods of their members.
The workshop was led by the independent (IWA) chair Joanne Sonenshine coordinated by Harrison Kaziro Manager Agribusiness at UCA and Rikolto.
The participants actively contributed in informing and defining specific definitions on farmer organizations.
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