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Several farmers’ associations are
newly-formed in western Kenya. These associations are intended to operate
well beyond the scope of local self-help groups (Woomer et al., 2003),
rather they serve as district-level umbrella organizations comprised of
numerous farmer field schools, women’s and youth groups, etc. Ultimately,
these associations seek to provide extension services, access to farm
inputs and marketing opportunities to their members (B. Wamalwa, personal
communication). But are these new organizations truly equipped to meet
these goals? These organizations lack office space and staff,
distribution centers for inputs and bulked crop surpluses and have poor
access to extension information. The very structure of the organizations,
Chairman-Secretary-Treasurer, is not conducive to initiating collective
actions. Currently, these farmer associations are funded by modest annual
dues sufficient to provide officers with funds to conduct occasional
meetings and register additional members. However, the significance of
these groups’ spontaneous formation must not be minimized because, for the
first time development specialists are presented with an organized and
receptive target for integrated approaches to rural transformation. The
structure and operations of five such groups in western Kenya is as follows.
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Members
from various farmer associations attending FORMAT meeting in Western kenya |
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