Workshop Objectives, Design, Methodologies, and Output

The third training workshop is focused on the study of specific cases of successful engagement in the market by small farmholders who have organized themselves into commodity-based associations. It looked into the advanced experiences of Taiwan Wax Apple Development Association, Korean Pear Producers’ Association, and the Northern Mindanao Vegetable Producers Association in directly linking with the market.

The workshop aims to enable the participants to:

1. Review of three basic important elements required in the engagement of small farmers with formal markets;
2. Learn from the experiences of market engagements from commodity-based associations in Asia, and visit a particular case of the Normin Veggies in the province of Bukidnon.
3. Provide inputs on formation of commodity clusters/groups to achieve economy of scale, enhance bargaining strength and for systematic delivery of crop-specific agricultural training and extension to enhance yields of specific commodity, improve product quality and windows of opportunities with ASEAN and FAO.
   

The following outputs are expected to be produced from this workshop:

1. List of identified marketing issues and challenges confronting small farmers and producers;
2. Summary of experiences of commodity-based groups associations of small farmers in their engagements with markets.