“Together we will achieve more”, say farmers from the Georgian village of Vartsikhe
Published: Oct 15, 2014 Reading time: 5 minutes
On a cloudy afternoon, seven smallholder farmers sit around a table in the office of the mayor of Vartsikhe and have a lively discussion with the members of the People in Need team. The conversation on good practices in farmer cooperation turns to off-season accounts for agricultural inputs, then to the pros and cons of different ways to strengthen agricultural value chains. Such questions, along with many other farm development matters, became very important for the farmers after they formed a group to work together few months ago.
The idea of farmer cooperation was in the air in Vartsikhe for a long time, many villagers had positive though ad hoc experience of mutual group support for attaining common farming goals. The farmers had also heard encouraging stories about other farmer cooperatives that were created in recent years in several other areas of the country. However, the Vartsikhe farmers would not have rushed to step into the “unknown territory” of farmer cooperation if they had not learned about ENPARD, a program funded by EU.
Early in the summer of 2014, in order to fully grasp the opportunities being offered up by ENPARD, several smallholder livestock farmers formed a group called the Ertoba (Union). "We have ten members in the group and we all realize that together we can achieve more than if each of us is on our own. That is why we agreed on the name very quickly," says one of the farmers, and adds that this is the first time they have tried this type of cooperation, which is based on clear distribution of roles and mutual obligations between the farmers.
As a first step for Ertoba, the farmers decided to prepare a common business plan and apply for organizational, technical and financial support from ENPARD. As part of the ENPARD grant process, the farmers attended several trainings organized by People in Need and its partners. The trainings helped the farmers to develop a better understanding of how to manage a cooperative, how to allocate roles and responsibilities among the members, and how to direct the resources in a fair and effective way. "We have also learned how to prepare a business plan. This knowledge will help us in accessing needed additional capital in the near future. And, more importantly, the planning exercises helped us to develop a shared vision of the future that is clear, optimistic and calling for a joint action" say farmers. PIN has also facilitated a visit of the farmers from Vartsikhe to the cooperative Dovlati that is located in the adjacent municipality of Tskhaltubo, which has a four-year history of farmers‘ teamwork and mutual support. "The visit was very inspirational for us. We saw a 25-person group of farmers who work together and generate decent incomes because of this. If the farmers from Dovlati managed to change their lives for the better, why can’t we do the same?“ the farmers ask.
The members of Ertoba would like to focus their efforts on increasing their capacity to produce Imereti cheese which is popular everywhere in Georgia. "We have a lot of cows, we make awesome cheese and what we need now is to make the production more cost-effective and the product more competitive in the market." they say. At this meeting they have one last opportunity to discuss their ideas with a team from People in Need before the farmers‘ business plan is reviewed and evaluated by experts.
A few weeks later the experts‘ comission will decide if Ertoba can receive grant support from PIN this time. The competition is high. Only 8-9 out of 28 similar groups can be supported on this round of grant competition. If the farmers from Vartsike are succeful, they will be granted a tractor requested through their business plan. The costs of field equipment that should accompany the tractor will be covered by the farmers on their own. "Given the area of land that we need to work on in order to feed our cows, it is cheaper to run own tractor than rent one every time," they explain their choice.
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Whether Ertoba receives PIN’s grant this year or not, the farmers from Vartsikhe have already benefited from the ENPARD project – they joined their resources together, they have a stronger capacity for business planning and they have a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist at cheese markets across the country. In case Ertoba is not selected this time, the group mambers will be receiving continuous support and consultations from People in Need in the next few months – this will allow them to improve their business idea, refine their plan and thus have a chance to succeed next year. "Regardless of the outcomes of the current grant competition, we must improve our business plan in the future. We have a feeling that investing also in meat production will diversify our farm produce and reduce our risks at the markets" they say.
Through the ENPARD project, People in Need contributes to poverty reduction in rural areas of Georgia. People in Need provides support to business-oriented small farmers and rural entrepreneurs in the Imereti and Racha regions with the aim to increase their productivity and income through membership in business coalitions, cooperatives and associations.
This provides an alternative to current practice of individual independent farming on fragmented fields with limited cooperation between individual farms and agribusinesses. Membership in cooperatives and associations will make possible reduction of operational costs and improvements in quality and quantity of farm produce that warrants better access to markets, and, ultimately, higher incomes for smallholder farming households.