This discussion topic makes me think about our early experience from P4P in Liberia where more than a decade of civil war had left the agricultural sector in pieces. The limited infrastructure that was in place prior to the conflict had been destroyed, and displaced communities returned to overgrown land. The few remaining farmers’ groups were loosely organized and struggled to produce high-quality rice in large quantities. When the P4P pilot was initiated in 2009, mistrust was pervasive among farmers – of one another, of the Ministry of Agriculture and of WFP. Identifying cooperatives to join P4P proved difficult, and members were wary of working together and therefore hesitant to hand over their rice to be sold collectively to WFP.
Working on building trust among smallholders, and enabling them to work collectively and take ownership of their businesses turned out to be a big challenge but also a big achievement. Here is the link to an article with more information about these efforts: https://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress/news/blog/p4p-liberia-building-relationships-and-growing-businesses
In addition, a colleague wrote a blogpost about how women’s groups in Liberia are not only seizing the P4P opportunity to produce and commercialize rice, but also to create their own personal peace and protection networks. You can read his blog post here: https://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress/news/blog/blog-women%E2%80%99s-ingenuity-determines-p4p%E2%80%99s-success-liberia
Ms. Ahnna Gudmunds