Farmer Associations In Western Kenya

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.

 

Members from various farmer associations attending FORMAT meeting in Western kenya