A decade of twinning with women fish farmers in Nepal

FFD has been supporting women fish farmers in Nepal since 2013, and slightly earlier, together with the Finnish Fish Farmer's Association. The end of 2023 is the perfect time to reflect on what these past years have meant.

Fish farmers in Chitwan Nepal harvesting carp. Photo: Roseanna Avento.

In 2012, the Finnish Fish Farmer's Association's then Director Anu-Maria Sandel left Finland to Nepal, excited to meet Dr Sunila Rai and the women fish farmers with whom the work would begin. Upon arrival in Kathmandu, she was to fly to Bharatpur. Some waiting occurred and she could see no one there to meet her. She recalled that a police officer was supposed to meet her, so she approached the first one she saw and asked if he might be waiting for her. “No, no!”, he said. She was bewildered. He was too. He nicely called the Kathmandu Police to find out if someone might be waiting for a foreign lady and lo and behold, yes! A police officer had been waiting for her in Kathmandu but could not locate her, and then the truth dawned on everyone. Dear Anu had boarded a flight to Bhaktapur and not Bharatpur, about 160 km away.

A year later in 2013, my time as twin started and while I got to Bharatpur without any problems, I found myself adjusting to a new English. Nepali English. The project team took me to visit all the project sites and at each one, I saw lots of fishponds. I have never visited so many fishponds in the span of 10 days, and while it was interesting, the women fish farmers I met, and their language were so much more fascinating. I was familiar with Indian English, but Nepali English is a different version of English from Indian English- even though there may be similarities.

First, my being addressed as ma'am took me aback. "I'm not a ma'am. I'm not that ancient", I thought to myself. I later found out that it was a sign of respect. Silly me. So, back to the fishpond where I was standing with this group of women and a few men. It was boiling hot, and it was probably the 50th pond I was staring at that day, all of them alike. One of the men approached me and said “Look, piss in the pond”. “Piss in the pond?” I said, confused. “Yes, ma'am. Piss. Piss in the pond”. There was an odd and strange silence and then it dawned on me! “Oh... fish!! fish in the pond”. We all had a good laugh.  I later learnt other nuances. “What happened to the one chap we met here, last time?” I asked Dr Sunila after one of our field trips. "Oh, he deleted!”, she answered, meaning the fellow had passed onto the other side. On another occasion with a former student of mine, we were prompted to "Shit here", but we were very careful not to defecate in front of our very kind hosts. Every moment I have spent in Nepal, I have learnt new Nepali English phrases, which make me highly appreciate the diversity of the language we call English - it changes everywhere we go and meanings are as you make them!

Yet, in Nepal there are many places where people do not speak English and I have had to rely on people I see as my heroes: the interpreters. As a twin, I cannot count the many people that have been interpreters for me, but I can say they have been among the most valuable people there ever has been. They will make your life easier, tell you what is being said and be your mouthpiece, and they provide context. And no, not everyone can write and type Nepali, not even people from Nepal. My advice to anyone planning a project: make space for interpreters and translators and pay them well.  They are monumental and essential, and they deserve proper recognition, monetary and otherwise.

Nepalese fish farmers joining for a meeting. Photo: Roseanna Avento.

The women fish farmers I have met on this journey are from two different districts: Chitwan and Nawalparasi. The two are not that far from each other. Or, they are. It depends. “Depends on what?”, you may ask. Well, Bharatpur in Chitwan is about a 160 km journey from Kathmandu, about a 5 to 6-hour drive. Driving from Bharatpur to Lumbini in Nawalparasi will take about 2 to 3 hours. My first time going to Nawalparasi, I was struck by the road, or rather, its lack thereof. We drove along a riverbed. In the monsoon season, there is no way to go through. Sometimes they travel by scooter and sometimes they travel by tractor. That is some perspective for those of us in Finland who travel between cities in comfortable trains and buses, often complaining about the Wi-Fi connection.

In these two regions, the women fish farmers are as diverse as they come. Some are Hindu, some are Buddhist, some are Tharu, some are Bhramin and their ages vary from late teens to the 90s. They all are so different, but there is one thing they all have in common- fish and fish farming. They all grow fish in small or big ponds, depending on their own circumstances. They all cook fish and serve it to their families and share it with their neighbours and sell it too. For this was how the story started. With small ponds to provide for their own families in 2013, and now in 2023, they are establishing cooperative-based enterprises through which they can sell their increased production and gain a higher income.

They have come far these women from the Nepal Terai, learning the basics of fish farming, interacting with each other, sharing the responsibilities ranging from feeding of fish to harvesting of fish. Even though many of them admit they do not like harvesting fish. It is tough work, and the ponds can be deep and scary. They would rather the men do the harvesting as well as the digging and preparation of the ponds for stocking. Fish farming is undoubtably scary for the women sometimes. They may encounter wildlife like rhinos and wild boar, or even the odd crocodile. Having men around at times like this is always important. They can help provide protection.

Although the fish farming activities we have supported over the years have been labelled women fish farming, I like to think of this more pragmatically. Whole families have been involved. The gender equality aspect that we have sought to support cannot be achieved by just supporting women alone. Rather, the men in the families and in the communities must also be involved. By being inclusive rather than restrictive, we have been able to pave the way for increased women participation in fish farming. 

In this 10-year journey, there are also those moments when hardship has been faced. Nepal is a natural-disaster prone country, that carries a huge burden from climate change. It is a landlocked country between two dragons, China and India, that sometimes use their power positions ruthlessly to favour their own agendas, including barring of fuel and food transportation across the borders. Developing self-sufficiency and resilience building is Nepal’s only way out of these crises. In the meantime, Nepal and her people continue to suffer turmoil in the face of natural calamities.

The Gorka earthquake in 2015 stopped our operations and damaged some fish farms and homes. The fear in the eyes of the women around me is something I can never erase from memory. The wonder of “why is the earth is shaking and causing havoc?” and questions of “will we survive?” surrounded us. Their collective fear for their families and themselves but also simultaneous concern for my wellbeing was astounding.  FFD and the donors ended up supporting reconstruction measures with part of the project funding. The joy and appreciation of the families that benefitted from that support was unsurmountable. I will not forget the family that showed off their brand-new pink house to us, with tears in their eyes. They had lived for almost a year in their chicken coop.

The lessons I have learnt from these brave women fish farmers in Nepal are extremely valuable. Girls, women, wives and mothers everywhere around the world, face the same struggles in the lives, no matter their language, social, economic, cultural or religious background. Their endurance in the face of hardship is mind blowing. How much they have transformed their lives is amazing. With the earnings they have got from fish farming, they have managed to improve their livelihoods, better their family nutrition and pay for the education of their daughters (and sons). I have seen women, young and old, learn to read, learn to use a computer, create a selling campaign and even create a monitoring system. We have sat together and mused about how their groups and cooperatives run, about how to encourage children to eat fish and so forth. We worked with their community schools and put together school meals from fish and cleaned the surrounding environment together.

My being a twin to these women has never been about 'teaching' anyone but being someone to lean on, being a supporter, a sister, a daughter.. maybe a granddaughter...who walks the journey with them, and has them walk with me.  So for a decade gone, I thank the women fish farmers of Nepal, and hopefully we shall continue to walk together for a decade more.

Roseanna Avento

Kobe Global

Twinning Partner Representative Finnish Fish Farmers’ Association

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains’ project in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024

FFD 10 years - A Decade of Impact

Ten years, multiple projects, tens of thousands of farmers capacitated, hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries reached, and finally, all the work to promote inclusive, systemic changes. FFD has facilitated smallholder farmers’ and forest keepers’ resilience, well-being, and strengthened their organizations to continue operating even if our collaboration may end. This has been the story of FFD, and we are glad to continue it.

FFD started its work to support producer organizations in the Global South 10 years ago. Now is the time to take stock of our successes and key achievements. At the 10th Year Anniversary seminar “Farmers for sustainable and responsible food systems and forestry – from local action to systemic change” on 12 October 2023, we discussed producers and their role in a sustainable and responsible food system.

We had a look at the results of FFD’s work from the past years and heard stories from our cooperative partners around the world! The FFD 10th Year Anniversary Seminar took take place in Helsinki, Finland on 12th of October 2023 as well as online, and the video recording of the whole seminar is found here.

Women fish farmers in the Terai embark on entrepreneurship

Women Fish Farmers discussing their business plans and future diversification of income generation.

Picture: Roseanna Avento.

Almost 300 women fish farmers in Chitwan and Nawalparasi districts in Nepal are organized into three cooperatives and five groups. The Finnish Agri-Agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) has been supporting them through the ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience’- transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains’ project. This four-year collaboration aims at enhancing women’s income generation, entrepreneurship and livelihoods resilience. The main project focus is to develop resilience to climate change and disaster-risks, by developing climate-smart production, income generation and community-based enterprises.

The women fish farmers have been receiving training on business planning and have also had workshops to determine how they can diversify their income. In addition, they have been developing their skills through different training on fish product handling and preparation of different fish products. The three cooperatives are now investigating the possibilities of starting their own businesses, which would benefit their members.

Starting a business is no small féte and the cooperatives have well-understood that embarking on such a venture requires long-term commitment and proper planning. Of utmost important is that the business idea is practical, economically sustainable and develops resilience to climate change and disaster-risks. In November, sessions were held with each cooperative to discuss their business ideas. Sundardeep Women Fish Farmers’ Cooperative were investigating the possibilities of embarking on a restaurant business focused on fish food, whereas Mishrit Cooperative was intent on starting a business to produce fish feed for carps. Kapia Women’s  Cooperative was still not completely decided on their business idea, however they had four directions in mind: a live fish shop, production of dried fish, production of fish feed for carps and a fish farming utility shop.

Scoping exercises and discussions with each cooperative encouraged them to think of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats around each of their ideas, while also keeping in mind the resources needed. A major need that was imminent among all the cooperatives was training on production techniques and development of know-how. In addition, they all cited marketing training as necessary, and luckily this was already on the training agenda of 2022. Furthermore, the cooperatives also cited financial literacy as a skill needed for them to succeed in their business. Training on financial literacy will be provided in 2023.

Investments are needed by the cooperatives to cater for permits and licenses for example registration at the municipality level and with the tax authority. In addition, they all need start-up capital. They have all committed to providing some of the start-up capital themselves, and in addition once the feasibility studies on each of the business ideas are done, some start-up capital may be provided by the project.

While the business enterprises seem a big step forward for the cooperatives, this is not totally new ground for them. Sundardeep for instance invested in a fish shop a few years ago, where in exchange for their initial investment, the cooperative receives five per cent of the profits of sales. In addition, Sundardeep provides the shop with 100-150 kg/year of fish, Kapia Women’s Cooperative about 700-800 kg/year and Rai Women’s Group about 1300 kg/ year. The shop sells about 5000 kg / year of fish. Fish sold include: big-head carp, silver carp, rohu and pangasius.

Embarking on a new cooperative business will, however, require a lot of careful planning and decisions. The women fish farmers in the Nepal Terai are struggling with the same question women entrepreneurs in developed countries struggle with: will I have enough time? how do I balance the business with my family life and my household chores? At the same time their motivation to start fish farming related businesses is imminent. When asked what made them proud as fish farmers, they replied:  ‘I can make my own income’, ‘I can have my own ponds and not work for others’ and quite strikingly,  ‘We women are proud that we can do something on our own. We also pride ourselves on being independent and being able to build our identity in society’.

Some questions still remain open, for example, which of the business ideas will actually be feasible and which of the ideas will we take forward together. One thing that is not uncertain, however, is these women will make it, because they believe and they can.

Roseanna Avento

Kobe Global

Twinning Partner Representative Finnish Fish Farmers’ Association

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains’ project in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024

Enhancing cooperation and entrepreneurship in Nepal’s women community forest user groups

Let’s journey to the Dang District of Lumbini Province in Nepal with its 241 254 hectares of forest area, of which 46% is community forests. The concept of community forestry was introduced in Nepal in the 1970s and its participatory approach where local communities are involved in forest management together with government and international organisations has positive implications for not only conservation of forests, but also using the forests for livelihoods management sustainably.

It is here we find Tulispur City with its one and half million population and the Amritpur Social Entrepreneur Cooperative (ASEC) that encompasses 10 community forest user groups: Triveni, Mahalaxmi, Nawa Durga, Ashwara, Samjhana, Namauna Mahila, Phulbari, Mayalu, Srijana Mahila and Annapurna. Together, they comprise 3000 households that practice small-scale forestry activities.

The Finnish Agri-Agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) project “Women for entrepreneurship and resilience – transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains in Nepal” aims to enhance women’s income generation, entrepreneurship and livelihood resilience. In Tulsipur, women in the community forest user groups create new products and services to enhance their income-generation opportunities and entrepreneurship, thereby creating social safety nets and livelihood security.

Their activities focus on non-timber forest products. Non-timber forest products are any product or service other than timber, and fuel wood that is produced in forests and are an important element of forests. They include medicinal and aromatic plants, bamboo and rattan, nuts, fruits, tubers and barriers, grasses, leaves, resins etc. and can be obtained from trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers and so forth.

In Tulispur, the community forests are mostly made up of sal tree (Shorea robusta) forests. Sal trees are used as timber and fuelwoods and its leaves are used for plates (the Tapari, Duna and Bota). Sal leaf plate production is a traditional forest-based occupation and enterprise in Nepal dependant on the availability of sal leaves from nearby forests. In addition, sal leaves are used as animal feeds, while sal fruits and seeds have medicinal use in Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest traditional healing sciences, taught by oral tradition.

Managing community forests and an income generation from the use of non-timber forest products, however, still faces many challenges in Nepal. One of the project activities completed in 2021, included an assessment of climate change impacts on forestry-based enterprises under ASEC. The results showed that increased precipitation will increase the occurrence of floods. In addition, it was determined that drier seasons will become drier and instances of drought will increase. The assessment also showed that the occurrence of forest fires is also a major challenge in Dang, and these are mostly human induced. It was estimated that, on average, 77 forest fire days occurred in Nepal between the years 2001-2020, resulting in an on average in annual loss of 172 040.65 ha of forests. According to reports from ASEC, forest fires contributed to an estimated loss of 1844 ha of forests in Dang in 2022.

Disaster (e.g forest fires) risk reduction measures are now being implemented. To mitigate the forest fires, ASEC embarked on the building of a dam in Chuckle Kola at the border of the Mahalaxmi and Ashwara community forest areas. The dam stocks water (5000 m3) during the rainy season for use in the dry season, mainly for forest fire control. The dam also provides water for irrigation to approximately 100 households in both community forest groups, covering about 50 hectares of agricultural land in the surrounding catchment area. In addition, the dam is also a water source for wildlife, which suffer greatly during the drought season. The construction of the dam took three and a half months and cost two million NPR (15 000€).

An irrigation committee, encompassing 60 household from the community forest user-group, was established to manage the dam. The irrigation committee collects a 50 NPR (0.40€) monthly fee from the households, for maintenance of the dam, improving irrigation and farming of new crops. They have collected about 40 000 NPR (300€) to date.

In the July to September rainy season of 2022, the dam unfortunately underwent some damage with one meter of earth, on one side of the dam, flushed away by the heavy rain. Repair work will be done over the next two to three months. Despite this challenge, the dam has already proved a successful venture. For example, one community forest group user farmed one hectare of cucumbers using irrigated waters from the dam and earned 50 000 NPR (390€). Further uses for the dam waters are also being developed. For example, the community forest user groups are also planning to irrigate 1.5 to 2 hectares of land and turn it into a green park for community use and enhancing well-being.

Here, two community forest user groups came together for a common venture and now the benefits are being accrued not only at community level, but also at the household and individual level. The community forest user groups through their cooperation substantiate Mahatma Ghandi’s words:  “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”

Roseanna Avento

Kobe Global

Twinning Partner Representative Finnish Fish Farmers’ Association

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains’ project in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024

Building Quality Assurance Capacity in Tanzania for Enhanced Export Opportunities

Quality assurance (QA) has become a prerequisite to food market access. In international trade particularly, but also increasingly on national markets, buyers require third party confirmation and certification on product quality. Certification does not only cover food safety and security: social responsibility and fair treatment of the workers, environmental aspects, and biodiversity are more often required. This does not concern developed markets only as producers and suppliers from developing countries are facing the same requests, too.

Internal audit at Mr. Ngailo’s farm in Njombe, conducted by Ms. Anne Piirainen from Puutarhaliitto, Mr. Nwaka Amylike from Tanzanice and Mr. Willy Ngailo, the farmer.

In Tanzania, agriculture comprised almost 30% of the GDP in 2021 and its share of the exports is significant; horticultural products with USD 274,1 million was fifth largest of the total exports.

Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) and FFD have collaborated for years to develop horticultural industry in Tanzania.  The first projects since 2014 focused on improved agricultural practices and value chain development, particularly focusing on domestic markets. With the increased export opportunities, in 2021 TAHA and FFD launched the “Quality Standards for Enhanced Market Access for Small-holder Farmers in Tanzania” (SEMA) project to provide skills for TAHA to capacitate small-holder farmers in achieving readiness for international market access.

Building Expertise

The SEMA project aims to train 15 TAHA agronomists in QA practices and capacitate farmers and farmer groups to meet the requirements of GLOBALG.A.P., the most recognized standard in the horticulture industry. Apart from food safety and security, social responsibility and workers health and safety are included in the training. The latter is called GRASP, the GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice. By the end of the project in 2024 the target is to achieve certification readiness for 10 farmer groups. By mid-2022, 500 farmers have attended trainings already and 3 pilot groups prepare for certification.

The project was planned in collaboration with TAHA and GLOBALG.A.P., the German owner of the quality standard.  Implementation is done by TAHA together with the Finnish twinning partner, the Central Organization for Finnish Horticulture (Puutarhaliitto), who has vast experience in training farmers in quality assurance and various QA standards. Currently it has a similar project in Finland where farmer groups and single farmers are trained in GLOBALG.A.P. standard to apply for certification. MSc. Anne Piirainen is coordinating the QA project for Finnish horticultural farmers and her hands on experience and expertise in Finland helps TAHA project personnel in project implementation – true peer-to-peer support!

Avocado Boom and Finnish Collaboration

In the SEMA project avocado has been the most popular crop under certification. No wonder since avocado has become very trendy food with big international market potential. It is tasty and has many health benefits and people are exchanging avocado recipes in social media and internet. Thus, the avocado market is booming. However, growing avocados requires a lot of water – 1 kg needs 1000 liters of water. Most of the world’s avocados need irrigation to grow and are cultivated in regions where drought is a problem, thus the sustainability of avocado production is often questioned.

The Southern and Northern Highlands close to Kilimanjaro are the main avocado growing areas in Tanzania.  Enjoying sufficient rainfall during the year, no irrigation is needed there. These are also among the main project locations of the SEMA project, ensuring sustainable use of water in avocado production.

Reliance on rainwater is confirmed by Tanzanice, a Finnish-Tanzanian company, a TAHA member, that is growing avocados in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands without irrigation. SEMA project conducted a benchmarking visit to Tanzanice in May to learn from the company’s QA practices.

Precipitation and Avocado Growing in Southern Highland

• appr. 1500 mm/ year
• enough to grow 10 000 kg / hectare
• one avocado tree produces appr. 50 kg
• 200 trees / hectare

Source: Tanzanian Climate Statistics (precipitation) and Tanzanice (avocados)

-The natural rainfall is sufficient to grow delicious fruits in Njombe area, says Eero Pisilä, the founder and owner of Tanzanice. ‘Our avocados are also organic and sustainably grown, and they are exported to the European market. We have 400 contract farmers that are group certified under GLOBALG.A.P. Tanzanice has also GRASP and SMETA, (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit; Sedex being a development organization), the most widely used social audit in the world.’

- Quality certification with sustainability and social add-ons are key in export market, says Pisilä. ‘Our avocados are shipped to the Netherlands and sold to European customers.’

While Tanzanice is not directly attending the SEMA project, having received its GLOBALG.A.P. certifications before the project started, it is through benchmarking, knowledge and practice sharing that mutual benefits are gained, and future collaborations strengthened at the local level.

TAHA Agronomist Zacharia Kiputa conducting internal audit.

Easy to Get and Hard to Maintain?

Getting quality certification requires a lot of work. A single farm can apply for it, but the certification can be granted also for a farmer group. That is done in the SEMA project and Tanzanice got certificate for a group of contract farmers, too.

Getting familiar with the standard and its control points is not easy requiring a lot of background knowledge on agricultural practices, environmental issues, fertilizers, plant protection agents etc. Communicating standard requirements to farmers may not be simple either since literacy skills are not always adequate. Videos, drawings, and other visual means may be needed. Quality standard is also a living document; the GLOBALG.A.P. standard version update was done in 2022 right after the first TAHA agronomists had passed the exams to become globally recognized Registered Trainers of the standard.

It is said that the certificate is easy to get but hard to maintain. Certification is valid for a limited time and annual audits are carried out. Documentation is also extensive both on the farms and at companies and requires a lot of effort before it comes an everyday routine. That is why digitalization of the documentation is one of the project measures.

Certification Pays Back

Quality assurance is strongly present in TAHA’ s strategic plan for 2022-2026. TAHA aims to increase market access of Tanzanian horticultural products and certification is one tool to achieve this. Through the SEMA project TAHA enhances its organizational capacity in QA issues, a step closer to achieving the target. With this, the farmers have access to full chain of QA services from training to certification as GreenCert Ltd, a TAHA affiliated private company and the first national certification body, has recently been established.  

Decision to apply certification is a long-term commitment and a financial investment from all parties. For small-holder farms group certification lowers the barrier to get certification. The cost is less and the audit measures less demanding than the ones for single farms. Becoming a contract farmer for an off taker also opens the export channels and access to better revenues to small holder farmers. The main effects are the better farming and professional skills that also improve food safety on domestic markets where the food market is under change and buyers request better and safer food.

Systematic quality improvement has a big economic impact for the farmer, community, and whole country.

-Thanks to avocado, says Mr. Ngailo proudly, when he was showing his newly built house.

Text & photos: Pirkko Suhonen, twinning partner through Finnish Garden Women Association in the FFD-project Value for Water in Tanzania

FO4ACP is co-financed by the European Union with the technical support of the International Fund For Agricultural Development.

Building stronger organizations for the benefit of all

Local TV, radio and newspaper reported from the OCA workshop in Tulsipur.

Productive family farms provide food security and employment for a growing population in developing countries. However, individual farmers require supporting networks able to provide knowledge and capital. Our goal is to strengthen Farmers’ Organizations, but also, to make sure that Farmers’ Organizations know how to keep strong for many years to come.

One of the tools FFD uses when working on strengthening Farmers’ Organizations (FO) is the Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA). The OCA is a tool for producing a ”snap-shot” of the organizational capacity through a self-assessment, designed to measure overall capacity of the FO, to assess the FO’s current management capacity and to identify key areas of the FO that need strengthening. The OCA tool is meant to provide a platform for discussion within the FO about organizational issues. When the FO is using the OCA tool, the FO’s strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and the discussions increases the FO member’s understanding and knowledge of the importance of a well-functioning organization. It gives insight to the development needs of the organization, it helps in prioritizing the capacity building efforts, and (when repeated) it helps to track progress or development trend related to different capacity areas. The OCA tool helps the organization with self-reflection, learning and promotion of inclusion.

OCA discussions in inclusive groups.

Fruitful OCA discussions in Tulsipur, Nepal

Last week, an OCA workshop was held in Tulsipur, Nepal, with 45 participants from 10 Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) of Amritpur Social Entrepreneur Cooperative (ASEC) in the FFD project “Women for entrepreneurship and resilience”. FFD’s Project Manager Jenny Öhman facilitated the workshop together with Janak Acharya (FECOFUN) and ASEC’s adviser Shovakhal Sapkota. The workshop was formally opened by the Mayor of Tulsipur, Tika Ram Khadka, and local TV, radio and newspaper reported from the workshop. The discussions were done in inclusive groups, where each group scored the level of the organization on various topics: services, member engagement, leadership, human resources, financial and quality management, advocacy and climate. Through the work in small and inclusive groups, all participants were involved and when presenting the results women were encouraged to speak up.

In the discussions, main points concerned livelihoods, entrepreneurship, gender, organizational capacity, finance and climate. The outcomes from this OCA workshop were increased knowledge on organizational capacity, the structure and work of ASEC, diverging opinions deriving from different factors (gender, member of different CFUGs, own knowledge level of the topic) were acknowledged, and areas of both weaknesses and strengths of ASEC were identified. In ASEC’s adviser Shovakhal Sapkota’s conclusions he mentioned that ASEC as a result of this OCA workshop will work on improving the communication to the members (on activities and results), improving the knowledge sharing mechanisms (sharing knowledge received in trainings) and ASEC executive committee will discuss the OCA results and make a strategic plan based on the results.

The OCA will be done with ASEC again in two years’ time – looking forward to more fruitful discussions, and on seeing what changes have happened since today!

OCA workshop participants from all ASECs 10 Community Forest User Groups

Text & pictures: Jenny Öhman, FFD Project Manager

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024

Nepal: Fish Farming Improving Women’s Livelihoods

Bhundi feeding grass carp with grass.

Bhundi Chaudary is a 40-year-old female farmer from Chitwan district in Nepal who is a member of Sundardeep, a women’s fish farming cooperative. Sundardeep is an active, united and female only organization working for the indigenous Tharu community in Chitwan. The cooperative was registered in 2012, and the core expertise include agriculture and fish farming.

Before joining Sundardeep, Bhundi found it difficult to meet the basic needs of her family with the income that she received from farming. Sundardeep supported Bhundi to construct a fishpond at the back of her farm and provided her various species of fish fingerlings for the pond. After adopting fish farming, Bhundi’s income has increased, and she now earns 80,000 NPR (about 615 EUR) - 90,000 NPR (692 EUR) annually through fish farming which has now become the main source of her family’s income. The additional income covers the school fees of Bhundi’s children as well as other family expenses. Bhundi also mentioned that she has gained more confidence after being involved in Sundardeep’s activities as they provide exposure and opportunities to deal with people from various and diverse backgrounds. By being a member of Sundardeep, Bhundi has achieved much personal growth and fish farming has tremendously improved the livelihood of Bhundi’s family.

---

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024

Summary: Zero Deforestation Value Chains and Food Systems Webinar 22.3.2022

---

Recommendations for decision-makers at the EU level

1. Keep it simple, but remember that deforestation is a multi-level issue where smallholders and sustainable farming need to be taken into consideration

2.    Farmers in the South who will be affected should be given an opportunity to discuss the proposal and critique it. The regulation needs to address the root causes of deforestation such as poverty, poor standards of landscape management, and governance.

3.    Re-think how a just and fair transition could take place in the developing world in terms of production of energy, creation of jobs, and understanding that the growing population requires land.

4.    Traceability of raw materials is very important; however, the smallholder farmers’ higher expenses due to the new regulations need to be considered, otherwise, they will be excluded from the system.

5.    The EU needs to ensure a fair price for smallholders for their crops and smallholders should be properly compensated for the impact that climate policies from the EU have on their livelihoods.

6.    Technical assistance and NGOs’ support are needed to enable smallholder farmers to adjust to the changes and adhere to the standards, this includes providing access to training and technology to increase smallholder farmers’ productivity.

7.    EU needs to ensure alignment with the EU level sustainable corporate governance due diligence so that there won’t be double layers on the two regulations.

---

Facilitator:  Tiina Huvio, a program director for Food and Forest Development Finland FFD

Presenters

• Dr. Markku Kanninen, Emeritus Professor, University of Helsinki

• Maija Kaukonen, Forest and Development Officer, WWF

Panel:

• Anne Arvola, Senior Development Impact Advisor, Finnfund

• Elizabeth Nsimadala, President of Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF)

• Lea Rankinen, Director of Sustainability & Public Affairs, Paulig

• Julia Wakeling, Head of Impact and ESG, SilverStreet Capital
  
  

This Zoom webinar was jointly organized by the Finnish Agri-Agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) and Finnish Development NGO’s (FINGO), and it is part of a series of webinars that aims to assess how to achieve systematic changes in agriculture, natural resource management, and climate change. In 2019, the EU launched five priority actions to tackle the issue of deforestation and promote free supply chains:

• Aiming for a free deforestation chain as part of the EU development cooperation.

• Strengthening international cooperation to stop deforestation.

• Redirecting financing toward more sustainable land-use practices.

• Supporting research and innovation.

• Working with partner countries, governments, private sector, civil society, to act against deforestation in those countries.

I. Opening Remarks by Tiina Huvio, Programme Director, FFD

• Deforestation and the consequent loss of biodiversity are a great global concern.

• Approximately 2.4 billion people use wood and charcoal for their daily domestic needs and approximately 1.5 billion people depend on small-scale farming and forestry.

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest report on climate change published at the end of February 2022 underlines that we must deal with inequalities if we want to deal with climate change and deforestation.

• The webinar reflects on how these different objectives can be achieved, in particular how smallholders and companies could deal with proposed EU regulations to reduce deforestation caused by the value chains of the six commodities: beef, soybeans, palm oil, timber, coffee, and cocoa.

II. Summary of the Main Points of the Presentations

2.1  Zero Deforestation Value Chains and Food Systems Role of EU consumption by Prof. Emer. Markku Kanninen

-    The IPCC 2019 land report showed that one-third of all greenhouse emissions come from food production and 60% of those emissions come from animal-based food production.

-    Since the 1990s, emissions from agriculture have increased around the world while emissions related to land use (including deforestation) have increased at a much slower rate. With declining emissions from industry and transport (due to carbon trading and other mitigation measures), land use and food production sectors are becoming the emission hotspots of the future.

-    International commodities’ value chains and global markets influence the CO2 balance between countries and regions. Products with high CO2 emissions are made in one part of the world and consumed in other parts of the world.  In developed countries, consumption-based emissions are larger than production-based emissions because production is often outsourced to developing countries; this can be considered a transfer or leakage of emissions from consumer to producer countries.

-    As an example, of the global emissions (2.6 Gt CO2 yr-1) related to deforestation, 21% comes from cattle ranching in Brazil and 10% from oilseeds production in Indonesia; of these emissions, exports account for between 15-20% of emissions in Brazil and between 40-45% in Indonesia. On the other hand, a report by the EU shows that about 10% of tropical deforestation (about 190,000 hectares per year) is related to EU consumption. This means that emissions related to EU’s consumption – through deforestation- are about 100 million CO2 eq. tons per year, which is equivalent to two times the total emissions of Finland.

2.2  Impacts of EU and Finnish consumption on tropical deforestation by Maija Kaukonen

 -    Deforestation is growing rapidly in Latin America, Central Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia and the main drivers at the global scale are soy, palm oil, beef, wood products, cocoa, and coffee (more than 80% of tropical deforestation in 2005-2017). The extensive use of firewood and charcoal production also affects deforestation in many African countries.

-    Agricultural production is estimated to have caused 5 million hectares of tropical deforestation annually between 2005 and 2017. According to the WWF EU Policy Office report 2021, EU’s imports are estimated to have caused 3.5 million hectares of tropical deforestation during this period placing the EU as the second largest contributor to tropical deforestation after China.

-    Commodity production is not only driving deforestation in tropical forests, but also in other landscapes such as forested grasslands and wetlands (also linked to consumption from the EU). Thus, the EU laws and regulations should include land-use change in other forested landscapes such as the Cerrado and the Pantanal in South America.

-    An analysis of more than 1200 companies, which are associated with high-risk deforestation commodities, found that only about half of them had commitments, and out of those, only 46% of those reported any kind of progress. Therefore, companies’ commitments to reducing deforestation seem to have a low impact on controlling deforestation.

-    Similarly, less than 10 % of financial institutions have a deforestation-free commitment. Thus, urgent action is needed to stop negative financial incentives for deforestation.

III. Summary of the Panel Discussion

Key challenges to reducing deforestation from the perspective of financial institutions

-    Financial institutions cannot reach all stakeholders in value chains, and it is especially challenging to reach smallholders.

-    Another challenge is transparency when measuring impact, e.g., reporting what has been done and understanding what smallholders have achieved.

-    Ensuring financial feasibility for smallholders as they are more likely to do something new if it makes economic sense.

-    Another challenge is smallholders’ capacity to deal with change (e.g., competitors, local and international rules, and different operating environments).

-    Finally, it is important to demonstrate different methods of working to smallholders so that they can decide for themselves. Thus, systematic changes are needed and an enabling environment for smallholders to thrive.

Key challenges companies are facing to encourage suppliers and tackle deforestation

-    One of the key elements is to identify the key raw materials and ensure good traceability to the country of origin.

-    Another key area is industrial collaboration to drive change and increase farmers’ capacity.

-    Verification and certification systems are also important, but the challenge is that different raw materials have different criteria and timelines. Dynamic models to harmonize criteria and expectations in due diligence processes are needed.

-    Another challenge lies with a large amount of country data, which can be used for risk assessments, but more accurate and updated data is needed.

-    One final challenge is the dynamics of global versus local demand. Are local policies and actions compatible with EU policies? Local policies might not provide the incentives to produce changes at the farm level

Key challenges for farmers to adopt forest favourable production systems. What about governments?

-    By organizing farmers into small groups such as farmers’ associations and cooperatives, a greater impact can be achieved. However, many farmers’ associations and cooperatives experience challenges due to institutional capacity and resource constraints. If producer organizations had enough resources, they could raise awareness regarding deforestation among smallholders and implement initiatives against deforestation.

-    Usually, there is no incentive to refrain from deforestation and the alternative energy sources to replace firewood are usually very expensive. The income of smallholders needs to be diversified to non-wood products such as fruits, nuts, and berries to reduce deforestation.

-    Another problem is a lack of awareness of the implication and impacts of deforestation. All actors need to come together and work towards the same goal (with clear roles and implementation tasks). The overall process should be participatory and inclusive.

-    Governments have set initiatives for example to reduce the use of charcoal and thus reduce deforestation, but the implementation of policies has been lacking.

-    There is a need for effective and transparent reporting mechanisms dealing with deforestation. This should be complemented with real accountability which includes local powerful players.

-    Finally, the governments should involve all actors when drafting policies.

Advantages and challenges regarding the new EU proposal regarding zero-deforestation value chain regulations?

-    The main benefit of the common regulatory frame is that now deforestation becomes everybody's responsibility. Voluntary certification schemes have played an important but insufficient role in creating deforestation-free supply chains, but they are still relevant.

-    The main challenge is the very specific and high-level expectation for traceability (plot of land where the crops originated). A strong platform needs to be in place and strong technical support to handle a large amount of data (who is responsible for the data?)

-    A second challenge to be tackled is the differences between countries and between markets. How will deforestation leakages be prevented? How will the EU support local governments in transforming their internal markets?

-    Another challenge relates to the scope as EU regulation focused on controlling deforestation, but not all “forests” are the same. Thus, the regulation should be inclusive by comprising biodiversity and indigenous ecosystems (e.g., open ecosystems such as savannas and grasslands).

-    At the level of producers and consumers:

• The costs of adhering to new regulations can be exclusionary for smallholders. Thus, there is a need for technical assistance and NGOs to support smallholders to adhere to regulations. 

• It is to be seen to what extent consumers accept the price increase that is quite inevitable (e.g., costs associated with product traceability).
  

Recommendations for decision-makers at the EU level

1.    Keep it simple, but remember that deforestation is a multi-level issue where smallholders and sustainable farming need to be taken into consideration

2.    Farmers in the South who will be affected should be given an opportunity to discuss the proposal and critique it. The regulation needs to address the root causes of deforestation such as poverty, poor standards of landscape management, and governance.

3.    Re-think how a just and fair transition could take place in the developing world in terms of production of energy, creation of jobs, and understanding that the growing population requires land.

4.    Traceability of raw materials is very important; however, the smallholder farmers’ higher expenses due to the new regulations need to be considered, otherwise, they will be excluded from the system.

5.    The EU needs to ensure a fair price for smallholders for their crops and smallholders should be properly compensated for the impact that climate policies from the EU have on their livelihoods.

6.    Technical assistance and NGOs’ support are needed to enable smallholder farmers to adjust to the changes and adhere to the standards, this includes providing access to training and technology to increase smallholder farmers’ productivity.

7.    EU needs to ensure alignment with the EU level sustainable corporate governance due diligence so that there won’t be double layers on the two regulations.

“Climate change has no borders, it affects each and everyone, therefore, reducing deforestation should not only be a producer level initiative. With a holistic view everyone needs to understand that they are responsible for deforestation and solutions to controlling deforestation as well”
(Elizabeth Nsimadala, President EaFF)

You can watch a recording of the webinar by clicking here.

Jose Valdivia (volunteered at FFD)
Adrian Monge Monge, Climate and Adaptation Expert FFD

---

“Reconstructing our food systems” has received funding from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2021-2022..

Comparison of certification schemes - benefits to socio-economic & environmental sustainability?

Instead of moving closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in even more people facing hunger. In 2020, there were an additional 161 million people who experienced hunger, “pushing the total to 811 million, while nearly one in every three individuals (2.37 billion people globally) did not have access to adequate food.” On the other hand, nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in millions of years, which is pushing biodiversity to a tipping point that endangers not just the future of animals and nature, but soon also the health and wellbeing of the 8 billion people inhabiting the Earth. In this context of social and ecological crises, urgent action is needed to transform food systems into modes that can ensure food security in the long-term by protecting biodiversity and supporting producers, especially smallholder farmers. Can certification schemes play a role in forging more sustainable food systems?

Private certification schemes have become increasingly popular in global agro-food chains, which often claim to improve both the socio-economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural and food consumption processes. Moreover, most European buyers of agricultural products today demand evidence of certification, so it has essentially become a prerequisite for market access. One example is the GLOBALG.A.P. certificate, which aims to benefit farmers, retailers, and consumers throughout the world by promoting Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P.) among producers and helping them gain access to a global market. The Finnish Agri-agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) and Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) have developed a project that utilizes GLOBALG.A.P. standards on a grass-roots level with Tanzanian horticulture farming with an aim to support local farmers organisations and promote sustainable farming practices.

To analyse the effectiveness of GLOBALG.A.P. and certification schemes in general, I compared the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) posed by GLOBALG.A.P. with two other internationally recognized certificates: Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program. The SWOT analysis was conducted through a qualitative review of relevant academic literature and the certification bodies’ websites and published documents. Fairtrade ”claims to improve farmers’ lives and to offer consumers a powerful way to reduce poverty through their everyday shopping.” On the other hand, Rainforest Alliance ”claims to ensure the long-term economic health of communities through protecting ecosystems, safe-guarding the well-being of local communities and improving productivity.” But how effectively do these certificates truly improve the socio-economic and environmental sustainability of global food production and trade? See below the results of the SWOT analysis:

GLOBALG.A.P.

Fairtrade

Rainforest Alliance

We can see from the three SWOT analysis grids that the mechanisms and scopes of the different certification schemes vary significantly. Fairtrade is more catered to supporting local farmers’ organisations and cooperatives through economic benefits with low compliance costs for producers. On the other hand, Rainforest Alliance is more focused on environmental sustainability with a more developed criteria for environmental management, but higher compliance costs for producers and lower prices for buyers. GLOBALG.A.P. seems to cater to both social and environmental sides of the sustainability spectrum with extensive criteria on environmental sustainability and an option to attain a voluntary GRASP add-on certificate to conduct a social risk assessment, which focuses on workers’ health, safety, and welfare. GLOBALG.A.P. is also the only certificate out of the three that offers an alternative lower-entry standard, localg.a.p., if the requirements of the full standard are unattainable for smallholder producers.

Perhaps the largest issue across all three certificates is the costs of compliance and hence the accessibility for smallholder producers. While the certificates aim to promote the socio-economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural processes, they also further disadvantage those that do not have the resources to access the global standardizations and global markets. The results indicate that certification is not a ‘cure-all’ to social outcomes, environmental sustainability and/or incomes of smallholder farmers. We can also question to what extent certifications really challenge the root causes of inequities in food systems and trade?

Overall, the benefits of the certificates are better attained when combined with capacity development support. As FFD and TAHA’s project in Tanzania shows, the economic potential of the horticulture sector is vast, with a current estimate of one-billion-dollar revenue from exports. To tap into this potential, systematic quality assurance and certification is needed for exportation. A certification is, therefore, necessary, but on their own, any one certification cannot solve the complex issues of sustainability.

Iida Lehto

Master’s candidate in Development Studies, The Graduate Institute Geneva

The writer of this article studies at the Graduate Institute Geneva in Switzerland and volunteered at FFD.

---

’Quality Standards for Enhanced Market Access for Small-holder Farmers in Tanzania’ has received funding from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2021-2024.

GLOBALG.A.P. certification - What are the opportunities/advantages for environmental sustainability?

The GLOBALG.A.P. certificate is an internationally recognised “trademark and set of standards for good agricultural practices”. Apart from its primary objective of ensuring food safety, the standard holds potential for improved environmental sustainability within food supply chains and horticulture farming. The Finnish Agri-agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) and Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) have been jointly developing Tanzanian horticulture since 2012 and have identified a need for improved Quality Assurance (QA) to meet national and international quality requirements and to ensure positive economic development for small-holder farmers. This has culminated in a collaborative project by FFD and TAHA: “Quality Standards for Enhanced Market Access for Small-holder Farmers in Tanzania”, implemented in 2021-24 with funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The project aims at GLOBALG.A.P. certification in horticulture farming in Tanzania to support market access, improve livelihoods of local smallholder farmers and farmers’ organisations (FO), and to promote sustainable farming practises. But to what extent is the certificate efficient in promoting environmental sustainability?

The GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) Standard for crop production includes specific criteria, which producers must comply with to become certified. In terms of environmental sustainability, three aspects specifically are of interest: water use efficiency, soil health, and integrated crop and pest management.

Freshwater is a scarce natural resource - it only represents 2.5% of all Earth’s water with only 0.3% available for consumption (rest is locked in ice). As 70% of the world’s freshwater resources are used for agriculture, a shift in water management is critical to respond to increasing demand and shortages in the context of climate change. As a result, GLOBALG.A.P. expects food system stakeholders to “provide evidence documenting their efforts to manage water risks and promote sustainable practices”. The criteria includes several ‘major musts’ that producers have to abide by to become certified. Producers must conduct a risk assessment that identifies the environmental impacts of their water sources, distribution system, and irrigation uses. They must also implement an action plan, approved by the farm management within the previous 12 months, to ensure efficient use and application of water usage. This includes identifying the location of water source(s), flow of the water system, assessment of irrigation system(s) and equipment.

GLOBALG.A.P. also offers SPRING, a voluntary farm-level add-on certificate, to complement the basic certificate. It offers further criteria to monitor water consumption and the impact on sustainable watershed management to protect water sources, identify best practices, and apply them to demonstrate continuous improvement. The add-on creates incentives for producers to develop sustainable water management, as they can earn an additional certificate that enhances their representation in supply chains and markets.

In addition to water efficiency, GLOBALG.A.P. promotes soil health. The criteria include a soil management plan where producers must demonstrate consideration of nutritional needs of crops and soil fertility by conducting regular calculations for harvested crops. Producers should also implement crop rotation for annual crops to improve soil structure and minimise soil-borne pests, with evidence of applied techniques, such as deep-rooting green crops, subsoiling, and avoiding in-row ploughing. Producers should also prevent soil erosion from water or wind by e.g., mulching and planting trees/bushes on borders of sites. Healthy soil is the basis of food production and forms the foundation for food security. Intensive crop production can deplete the soil, jeopardizing future yields and productive capacity, which means that sustainable practices are essential to ensure continued production and food security. In Tanzania, where erratic weather conditions are increasingly more prevalent, healthy soil can help food systems adapt to challenging climates.

As a third environmental focus, the GLOBALG.A.P. targets an integrated crop and pest management (IPM) approach in crop production. This includes reduction of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and an integration of organic principles, in comparison to more ‘traditional’ intensive agriculture. IPM helps producers develop pest control techniques that minimise risks to human health and the environment while maintaining sufficient levels of yields. The certificate requires regular monitoring of fertiliser use that directs producers to optimise their use of inputs. This is beneficial not only in reducing the emissions from fertiliser and pesticide production, but also in protecting local ecosystems through the optimised use of resources. Especially in small-holder farming, which the project by FFD and TAHA targets, the production inputs are many times limited, so an optimised use of inputs and disposal, e.g., of pesticide product packages, is critical in ensuring environmental sustainability.

A challenge that lies in ensuring environmental sustainability from the GLOBALG.A.P. certificate is a question of accessibility. How effectively and sustainably can small-holder farmers follow and comply with the certificate’s criteria? And how well can they attain the certificate in the first place? GLOBAL.G.A.P. does also provide a lighter alternative model, localg.a.p., which is a capacity-building tool “to be applied as a local standard for agricultural supply chains in emerging markets” and to help farmers develop good agricultural practices. FFD and TAHA’s ongoing project in Tanzania also targets capacity development and supports awareness and tools for Quality Assurance (QA) for small-holder horticulture farmers. The project aims to improve their influential role in society and ensure more resilient rural communities. The expertise communicated by GLOBALG.A.P. promotes environmental sustainability, and when implemented together with capacity support for small-holders, such as through the project by FFD and TAHA, the certificate can effectively promote environmental sustainability in food systems.

Iida Lehto

Master’s candidate in Development Studies, the Graduate Institute Geneva

The writer of this article studies at the Graduate Institute Geneva in Switzerland and volunteered at FFD.

---

’Quality Standards for Enhanced Market Access for Small-holder Farmers in Tanzania’ has received funding from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2021-2024.

Tree Seedling Nurseries and Forest Management in Kenya

A local tree seedling nursery in Kenya

FFD supports the Farm Forestry Smallholder Producers Association of Kenya (FF-SPAK). FF-SPAK was registered as an association in 2013. The association helps producers grow tree seedlings, manage nurseries, and take care of their forests. FF-SPAK offers advice and training to its members to develop their skills in forest management. In addition, the association seeks to contribute to policy promotion at the national level.

Even though FF-SPAK chose the association model for their organization, four of the groups that FF-SPAK supports have set up cooperatives. The cooperatives are currently focusing on the production of cashews, macadamia nuts and chicken.

In 2020, FFD’s project included 585 direct beneficiaries (427 men, 123 women).

---

The FO4ACP programme is financed by the European Union, the OACPS Secretariat and IFAD.

Developing Women Entrepreneurship and Climate Change Resilience in Nepal amid COVID-19 and Natural Disasters

The Nepalese economy is highly dependent on its agricultural sector, which engages over 65 per cent of the population. The sector is, however, very vulnerable to disasters and impacts of climate change, including floods, droughts, landslides and intense rain. Food security is therefore highly negatively affected and the livelihoods of marginalised groups like women are, in turn, at risk. The forestry and fish-farming sectors in Nepal are traditionally male-dominated sectors where women’s roles and voices are quite limited. Comprehensive approaches to building resilience for livelihoods development in the forestry and fish-farming sectors are necessary and this also includes the empowerment of women.

The year 2021 has marked the first year of operations of the ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience’- transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains’ project in Nepal. This four-year collaboration between the Federation of Community Forestry Users (FECOFUN), Sundardeep Women’s Fish-farming Cooperative (Sundardeep), Amritpur Social Entrepreneur Cooperative Ltd. (ASEC) and the Finnish Agri-Agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) aims to enhance women’s income generation, entrepreneurship and livelihoods resilience. The main project focus is to develop resilience to climate change and disaster-risks, by developing climate-smart production, income generation and community-based enterprises, in three regions of Nepal: Dang, Chitwan and Nawalparasi.

The beneficiaries consist of 18 farmer organisations that have committed to gender equality and enhancing services directed to women and enhancing advocacy of their total 1200 women members, with this advocacy support indirectly reaching over 6000 persons. All the three organisations have collaborated with FFD in the past, whereby the development of women groups and cooperatives has been supported. There is, therefore, already a strong foundation for the current collaboration, to build on.

However, initiating the activities in the midst of a pandemic has certainly not been easy. In Nepal, there have been strict restrictions of movements between and within regions. This has made it very difficult to organise meetings and gatherings necessary for instance trainings, or even for gathering of information needed for making an in-depth analysis of the climate and disaster risks for each region involved, and sector-wise for the forestry and fish-farming sector. The pandemic has enhanced a digital leap, just like in many parts of the world.  Although Zoom meetings have become part of the norm, connectivity, electricity cuts and digital literacy remain a huge challenge. Digital tools cannot still be solely be relied on, to implement the activities on this project.

 Simultaneously, there have been climate-related incidences that have made it challenging to initiate the project activities. This year, about 65 hectares of forest in the forest areas, occupied by the community forest user groups supported in the Dang region, were lost to forest fires. This led to the making of monitoring plans for forest fire sensitive areas. The community forest user groups, especially women, however, continue to fear new forest fires. The monsoon season also started earlier this year, already in June. Massive floods and landslides in the Chitwan and other districts of Nepal, resulted in human casualties, damage to infrastructure, and harvest losses. In addition, people lost livestock and their homes, and the incessant rainfall resulted logistical problems, when roads and bridges being damaged. Fish-farming also suffered when damage to fishponds occurred and fish mortalities occurred.  

Women tend to greatly experience fear and anxiety in these situations, fearing for the lives of their children, their parents and larger extended family and, for themselves. Pre-existing hierarchies and inequalities in access to resources, capabilities and opportunities make vulnerable groups even more vulnerable, a never-ending vicious circle. The needs of rural women are thus, important to consider when creating response, readiness and recovery strategies.

The project’s aims are being achieved through a co-creation model, where women’s perspectives are taken into account. A participatory climate and disaster risk assessment was conducted in the second half of 2021, and its resulting recommendations will be implemented in 2022. These, among others, include building on the indigenous knowledge of local communities and integrating this knowledge and local practices in sustainable forest management, raising awareness of local communities on how to access resources for climate change mitigation and disaster risk management, and making early warning systems accessible to local communities.

Some mitigation measures have already been put into place, for example, FECOFUN, with provincial officials, organised a workshop for women members of Sundardeep and ASEC to share information about legal provisions for the enhancement and developing of women’s capacity. In addition, the women were provided information on provincial government grants and programmes for enhancing women entrepreneurship. In ASEC, a routine plan for forest fire monitoring was developed for six community forest user groups and is now in active use. In Sundardeep, 86 women fish farmers received support in the preparation of their fishponds, whose dykes were built to withstand floods better. Furthermore, women fish-farmers were also provided information on how stresses from flood and drought impact fish health in carps and how to mitigate these stresses, through regulation of oxygen levels and proper water management techniques.

The coming year 2022 will still present challenges in terms of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the lessons learnt in 2021 can help in planning the activities better and more effectively. The three partners FECOFUN, Sundardeep and ASEC have, at the end of 2021, discussed on their 2022 plans and activities. One main aim is to better facilitate effective and constant communication between the beneficiaries, allowing them to exchange information and learning. Although, encompassing three different geographical regions and two different agricultural sectors, the women can definitely learn from each other, and the project provides a platform through which social learning can be utilised in creating sustainable strategies for climate change related response, readiness and recovery, to create better and improved social safety nets and improved livelihoods in the project regions. 

Roseanna Avento, Kobe Global

Twinning Partner Representative Finnish Fish Farmers’ Association

---

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024

Increased Sustainability with Training and Storage

Huruma Mgaya, a smallholder in Tanzania, has been a member of Tanzania’s Njombe Agricultural Development Organization (NADO) since 2016. She is also the secretary of UMOJA ‘A’ group in Itunduma village in NJOMBE DC. Huruma has been farming potatoes for 5 years and through NADO has learned about sustainable farming. She has learned new skills by attending NADO’s training workshops in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Farm Business School (FBS) and Good Post-Harvest Handling (GPHH). After implementing what she learned in the training sessions, Huruma’s potato production has increased (from 4-6 MT/acre to 8-9.5 MT /acre) and so has her income.

Huruma built a small storage for her potatoes so that she can keep them up to 4 months without affecting their quality and taste. The storage also reduces her post-harvest losses. Due to price fluctuations, she used to leave matured potatoes in the field for a long time while waiting for prices to increase. This led to lower quality potatoes and waste as she had to throw some of the potatoes away. Now she can store her potatoes and decide when to sell the potatoes depending on the market price.

Huruma Mgaya built a potato warehouse so she can store the potatoes longer, sell them at a better price and reduce food waste.

Mozambique: Corn storage and milling possibilities increase farmers' income

Lídia Hilário Vicente is a farmer and a mother of three chilldren. She was recently elected as the Vice President of AKA Comercial cooperative. Lídia’s farm is locted near Mocuba in the Muraba neighborhood in Nadala, Mozambique. She produces corn and other crops such as manioc, peanuts, sesame and vegetables. By being part of FFD’s project, Lídia has learned about agricultural diversification and has started applying it. She produces corn for her family’s consuption and sells what is left over. When the year is good – that is, with regular rain and without pest attacks – Lídia’s farm produces more corn, which gives her some extra income that she uses to buy agricultural inputs and to cover some family expenses.

Lídia - farmer, a mother of three and Vice President of AKA Comercial.

Lídia is a member of the Esperança de Nadala Union. At the beginning of FFD’s project, Lídia farmed 2ha of corn. When she learned that AKA was going to install a corn mill to add value to the members' products, she increased the corn production area to 3.5ha and decided to make that crop a cash crop instead of just being used for feeding her family.

Until recently, there was a delay in AKA’s plan to store and gind corn for AKA members. The storage facility’s roof had collapsed due to a storm and the mill was not functioning properly. Due to these issues, Lídia has sold her surplus corn on the market.

AKA repaired the storage building’s roof and the mill in 2020. Corn can now be stored and ground. Lídia is very happy now that she will be able to store, grind and sell a large amount of her corn (about 3 tonnes) through AKA as corn flour. This will significantly increase her income.

Lídia and her children at the farm.

Tanzania: A better yield and better quality lead to better income

Heziron Njiuka is a farmer from Imalinyi village in Wanging’ombe district, Tanzania. He has been farming potatoes for 4 years. Heziron is a member of the Njombe Agricultural Development Organization (NADO), which focuses on ware and seed potato production. He is one of the farmers who has learned improved potato farming techniques from NADO through the potato project that is funded by FFD.

Heziron’s potato yield and quality have increased due to improved farming methods. He explains, “I have never harvested such a good yield as I have this year. I had never harvested more than 4 MT/acre. However, after applying the techniques I learned from NADO, I was able to harvest 29.21 MT in 3 acres, which is an average of 9.74 MT/acre Thank you to NADO for helping all the farmers.”

Heziron’s harvested potatoes

NADO has also helped farmers to link to buyers and markets leading to increased income. Heziron has been able to sell his potatoes for 30 000 TZs (10 euros) per bag and made a total of 8 763 000 TZs (3 124 euros) for his harvest of three acres of potatoes. He humbly says, “I am very thankful to NADO for linking me with the market.”

In addition to a better yield, the potatoes are also better quality due to improved farming methods. The potatoes are bigger, they don’t get infected by diseases and they aren’t attacked by pests. Heziron tells about his future plans, “My plan is to expand the area of production since I have enough land. I would like to build another house and open a store where I could sell fertilizer to my fellow farmers.”

Heziron’s harvested potatoes

Kenya: Cooperative providing new skills and better income for small-scale farmers

“My name is Priscilla Nyambura and I am a member of Lima Linda cooperative in Muranga county in Kenya. I am 45 years old, married and I have 3 children. My oldest child is studying at a university while the other 2 are in secondary school.”

Priscilla in her farm where she practices agroforestry

Priscilla has been a member of the Central Highland Tree Growers Association for the last 3 years. “When it was suggested we form a business arm in 2019 to market our products, I was one of the first ones to support the idea. This is because we had a big problem with middlemen who would rip us off when we sold our products individually.”

Priscilla registered with Lima Linda cooperative society in late 2019 when it had just been formed and since then she has noticed many benefits. “The cooperative helps us to sell our products together and at better prices.” The cooperation also looks for new markets and handles all the negotiations and transactions. This enables the members to concentrate on producing goods for the markets.

Lima Linda marketing cooperative has organized training for its members. Priscilla has attended several training sessions including a business planning course, a saving and lending course and a tree growing course. The cooperative tries to ensure that everyone has a chance to attend training and thus Priscilla has only attended courses she has been invited to. The cooperative is supported by Farm Forestry Smallholder Producers Association of Kenya (FF-SPAK), which is FFD:s implementing project partner in the project ‘Sustainable and profitable smallholder Forestry in Kenya’.

“I am glad my farm was identified as one of the model farms that other members and neighbors can learn from. You see, I get food and make money from the farm enabling me to take care of my family, so I have to take care of the farm very well.” In 2020 Priscilla sold 700kg of avocados through the cooperative and earned KES 47 600 (about 380 euros). Priscilla also grows maize, bananas and Irish potatoes on her farm providing food for her family. She also has animals like goats and poultry. In addition, Priscilla does horticulture on her farm which brings her an average of about KES 8000 a month. “The money I earn has enabled me to educate my children so they can finish school and get good jobs in the future.”

“I want to say a big thank you to our supporters. The support of the cooperative has enabled us to get much more income unlike in the past where we would sell our fruits for only KES 5 (0.04 euros) per piece.”

Priscilla’s kitchen garden and farm.

---

The FO4ACP programme is financed by the European Union, the OACPS Secretariat and IFAD

Vietnam: Forest certification and sustainable forest management increase cooperative members’ income

Nguyen Thi Minh Hang joined the Hoa My cooperative in 1999 to promote collective economy and to increase her household income. Her family consists of 2 children and her husband, and with the help of the FFD project, her income has increased and her children are now able to go to school.

Nguyen completed her training course and certification for PEFC (the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) in 2017. Since then, she has been applying new techniques on forest production such as land preparation without burning vegetation and carrying out thinning processes. She now allows trees to grow for a longer period and concentrates on harvesting logs instead of woodchips.

Nguyen’s family owns 3 400m2 of rice fields and 3.4ha of Acacia forest. Due to the extensive amount of work, Nguyen hires other farmers to help her during the planting and harvesting season.

“We now grow the forest for 10 years and get about 200 million VND/ha (7 144 euros) compared to 40 million VND/ha (1 428 euros) for 4 years, like we did before. This provides an opportunity for my children to go to school, more facilities for the family and a higher position in the society.” Nguyen explains.

The Hoa My cooperative in Thua Thien Hue province in Vietnam helps its members in farming and forestry by providing training, services and commodities. The cooperative provides good quality fertilizer and certified seedlings for agriculture and forestry. It also organizes training on land preparation, irrigation and plant protection. In addition, the cooperative trades agricultural / forestry products such as rice, peanuts, cassava and Acacia.

Nguyen is an active member of the cooperative, and she wants other women to be able to do what she has done. “I will support other women in the cooperative in producing qualified saplings by expanding the nursery garden, introducing new varieties like high value native species (e.g. Melaleuca used for medical oils) and expanding to neighboring commune and district markets.”

Ethiopia: Improving livelihoods through sustainable forest management and beekeeping

Shashe Fekadu is a mother of three living with her family in the Amhara region in Ethiopia. When Shashe started with forest and beekeeping activities thirteen years ago, she had four traditional beehives with low production and a small plot of woodlot mostly for wood fuel supply for her own household. As her children were growing Shashe wanted to increase the family income, so that her children would have the possibility to study.

“Previously I did forestry activities only for self-consumption purposes, we used the wood for construction and as fuel wood. Before I joined the project I had only a small woodlot managed in a traditional way, with trees maturing after seven years and with low wood quality. I first started bee keeping with traditional beehives, but the honey harvested was low in quantity and quality.”

Shashe with one of her daughters by their homestead plantation

When starting to plan her business the honey and bees wax production was too poor both in quality and in quantity. Also the woodlot needed proper management to produce more. Shashe decided to join the FFD project, with the local partner Zenbaba Union. Shashe got information on the benefits of cooperatives, and is one of the founders of the Agunta Bee and Natural Resources Development and Marketing Primary Cooperative. With help of the FFD project support to Zenbaba Union, Shashe has been able to participate in different trainings on woodlot plantation establishment systems, and on modern beehives honey production.

“After joining the project, I have been engaged in model woodlot establishment, modern beehive keeping and agroforestry activities. The model woodlot establishment has reduced the maturation period of trees from seven to four years, and the wood quality is good. I am also benefiting from growing agricultural crops in the agroforestry system – the crops can be grown until the tree canopy cover is getting too dense. The modern beehives are giving better honey harvests, and the quality of the honey is fit for marketing.”

Shashe now has 1,5 hectare of forest land with established agroforestry model woodlot system, with a wood maturing period of four years. She has divided her woodlot into two parts, making it possible for her to harvest 0,75 hectare of wood every second year. Honey production sales are generating income every year. Shashe’s income has increased as a result of the project support, and she has been able to raise her family’s economic standards.

“My livelihood has improved since I joined the project. With the income generated from honey and forest products I have bought three dairy cows, my two daughters are studying in university, and I have been able to change my hut from having grass-cover to having a modern tin roof.”

Shashe´s new tin roof

Shashe is feeling positive about the future. Her daughters are now able to study, and despite the Covid-19 pandemic her business is running – when the situation gets better, she is planning to invest in more modern beehives, and to expand her honey and bees wax sales for better income generation.

This project is supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Tanzania: Microloans that change lives - Eva and Avelina

Establishment of the Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) has shifted farmers’ mindset towards business opportunities. It has enabled farmers to start small businesses and enhanced their wellbeing.

Mang’oto is a village in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The village has a population of 3700 people and is 2000m above sea level. The village is part of the Makete region, which struggles with poverty.

VSLA’s establishment was supported by the Tanzania Tree Growers Associations Union (TTGAU), which is one of FFD’s parterns. The loan program has been designed so that a group of people save money and then individuals can take loans when they need them according to agreed processes. Loans are only given to those who don’t have any other loans. TTGAU offers mentoring and coaching services to groups to ensure sustainable development and fair financials services to everyone.

Before joining VSLA, Mang’oto residents didn’t have enough capital to etablish businesses. Now families can take short micro loans to enhance their farming practices. Loans may be taken to purchase animals like pigs, goats and chicken, to buy chain saws to cut trees or to expand their business.

Eva Chengula

Eva Chengula, a 42-year old married woman from Mang’oto, has joined VSLA. She took a loan to build a toilet in her house because she didn’t have one. After joining VSLA, Eva has received training and now she’s dreaming of building a house.

Avelina Ilomo

Avelina Ilomo, a 30-year old married woman, works as a secretary and joined VSLA in order to buy land. Avelina took a loan of TZS 50,000 (17 euros) to buy 15 chicken. Now she sells eggs to her neighbours. In the future, Avelina would like to expand her business to 50 chicken. She would also like to buy more land where she could build a house.

““When you support hard working people with good ideas, they can build a better future.””

Tanzania: The transformation of Abdallah Vie

Abdallah Mohamed Ali, also known as Abdallah Vie, is a 64-year-old farmer from Mtakata village in Vitongoji Southern Pemba, Tanzania. He lives with his family of 18 members.  

TAHA’s Pemba agronomist Ally Kamtande during a training session with Abdallah Vie and his farm helpers at his farm in Mtakata village in Vitongoji Southern Pemba.

Abdallah started farming a quarter of an acre in 2010 where he planted tomatoes. The source of water for his farm was a local village bore hole.

“Carrying water from the water source with a bucket was one of the most difficult tasks as a farmer.” remembered Abdallah Vie. Due to not having enough money to buy a pump, he spent many hours carrying water over the years.”

Abdallah was among the first farmers to join TAHA in 2015 though it took one year for him to adopt TAHA’s recommended technology.

“I was attending TAHA classes from 2015 but I adopted technology late, now when I sit back I wish I would have started early. I was not sure of the technology that TAHA was giving us and thus I was scared to change from what I had been doing for so many years.”- said Abdallah

TAHA’s agronomist started by giving him hybrid seeds for trial and wanted him to compare them with the local seeds he was using. As we end 2019, Abdallah has more than 10 acres of land where he farms a variety of crops from tomatoes, sweet pepper, bananas, water melon, passion fruit and papaya.

“I can’t really compare the profit I used to get when I was doing local seeds to what I am getting using hybrid seeds. I had never exceeded a profit of 2 million TZS when I was doing local farming. After the transformation I have made a profit of 100 million in my four seasons. I am grateful to TAHA and particularly the agronomists for their contributions in my success”- Abdallah says with a spark in his eyes.

“I use the money I get to fulfil the needs of my family such taking my kids to school, medical care and also to improve facilities in my farm. I have also employed 10 people who are helping me with farm activities and my plan is to provide employment to more people when I expand my farm”.

This project is supported by the KEO 30 program from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland