Producer organizations play an important role in tackling the systemic causes of poverty, because they give farmers—men and women—a legitimate voice in shaping pro-poor rural policies. Producer organizations can function more efficiently by using information communication technologies (ICT) to attract and retain a wider membership, generate more funds, and provide better services to their members. Documented benefits of ICT include improved connections to members, better accounting and administration, and stronger collective voice (From ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook module 8).
As the United Nation's International Year of the Cooperative comes to a close, join the e-Agriculture community and our subject matter experts in a discussion on the key issues that make ICT important for producer organizations, and the challenges that limit their full potential.
Subject matter experts:
Alexander Flor, University of the Philippines Open University
Riikka Rajalahti, World Bank
Pierre Rondot, CIRAD
This online forum will discuss the role ICT plays in producer organizations, from improved efficiency to networking to transfer of technical knowledge. Aware that organizations face limited resources, the discussion will look at priority areas for investing in ICT. They will look for examples of whether ICT empowers or marginalizes women and smallholders in producer organizations, and the group will discuss the role of the public sector in supporting producer organizations’ uptake of ICT.