“Moving from being farmers to agro-entrepreneurs is a complex process and requires new skills. And this is where we needed help,” explained Edgar Somacumbi, a farmer from Kwanza Sul, Angola. “When I first heard about the Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovations Systems project two years ago, I knew immediately that it was just what our group of farmers was looking for.”
Agricultural innovations have boosted many rural livelihoods in recent years with the introduction of new technologies, digital tools and broader availability of micro-financing as just some examples. Yet progress in many rural areas is still limited. In fact, sometimes, irrespective of which new technologies are made available, smallholder farmers do not always adopt them. So why is that?
Whilst accessibility and affordability are likely to be a factor, one thought is that there is also a lack of ‘soft skills’ necessary for the process of change, including the ability to share new knowledge, communicate clearly and collaborate with other food system actors, negotiate with buyers and engage in policy dialogue processes.
To address these gaps, FAO collaborates with partners through the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), a G20 initiative started in 2012 and hosted at FAO to facilitate and improve capacity development programmes and knowledge sharing with the end goal of strengthening agricultural innovation in the tropics and sub-tropics.
As part of TAP, FAO implemented a project on Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovations Systems (CDAIS) in partnership with AGRINATURA and the European Commission (EC). Now, FAO is carrying out a follow up project to scale up capacity development through the TAP project in nine countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America with funding from the EC. These projects use a community-based participatory approach that works through reflection, group learning and engagement, co-creation of knowledge with farmers and helping them to better adopt innovative methods. So, has it worked?
Edgar would say it has. He took part in one of the very first CDAIS projects to bring new land into cultivation and attract young farmers to this rural area of central Angola. He was one of 60 farmers given a 250-hectare plot of unused land. Most of the agricultural equipment is communal, and they must agree on who will use what and when.
“Of course, we have problems,” says Edgar, “but we have learnt to see them as positive, and we work together to find appropriate solutions.”
Access to finance and markets are also recurrent problems for farmers in the area, so the project provided training on agri-business skills, including creating farm business plans, establishing and managing producers’ groups and implementing advanced farming techniques.
Edgar explains with pride that, through the CDAIS project, 9 000 hectares of land were cultivated over a five-year period, creating hundreds of jobs. “And with new skills, we can only grow,” he says.