Formation of Collective Action by Farmers Sample Clauses

Formation of Collective Action by Farmers. Therefore the government through the use of extensionists should facilitate develop of good marketing strategies such as to have collective bargaining through co-operative societies or commercial groups of farmers on upstream in order to have the direct link with the exporters. Collective action occurs when individuals voluntarily cooperate as a group and coordinate their behavior in solving a common problem. In broad terms, collective action may be defined as action taken by a group (either directly or on its behalf through an organization) in pursuit of members‟ perceived shared interest (Xxxxxxxx 1998), which fits well in the traditional African setting. In the absence of well functioning markets, African farmers have traditionally relied on kinship and other forms of reciprocal relationships in production, marketing and other social activities (Fafchamps and Xxxxxx 1999; Xxxxx-Xxxxxx, 2001). Farmer marketing groups as an outcome of collective action are unlikely to emerge on their own (Xxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxxxx and Xxxxxx, 2002), because farmers do not understand the concept of economies of scale when participating in a collective action. The need for collective action depends on the resource type, degree of spatial integration and the time required in achieving the desired outcomes. Conducive environment and political leaderships should be controlled, White and Xxxxx (1995) have shown that groups will emerge and survive where a “xxxxxxxx xxxx” of individuals has practical knowledge of the potential gains from collective action, but that in the short term emergence can be constrained by landscape factors that affect the potential net gain. In this arrangement, an individual‟s choice to participate in collective action will depend on his/her expectation of other members‟ behavior. (Xxxxxxxx, Xxxxx and Xxxxxxx, 2006). The formation of collective action by farmers will have direct effect on production among farmers themselves since the market will be assured and increase farmers‟ capacity in terms of bargaining and reduce the control of exporters. According to Lutheran World Relief,4 improving collaboration helps farmers achieve economies of scale by pooling resources to reduce unit costs of inputs and outputs (for example they share cost of searching the buyer, cleaning cost and storage cost) increasing access to credit, technical assistance, transport, and price information; and managing viable enterprises and commercial relationships. Through colle...