Transcript 02-Education-for-Agricultural-Commercialization-Lukex

Linking Transformative Teaching
with Sustainable Workforce Development
Education for Agricultural Commercialization iDE
Nepal Experience, Needs, and Observations
Luke A. Colavito, PhD, IDE Nepal, Country Director
April 12, 2015
Presentation Overview
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Agricultural
Commercialization Context
and Approach
Climate Change
Thoughts on Agriculture
Education Needs
Direct Estimate iDE
program Agricultural
educational needs
Areas iDE could contribute Multiple Use Water System (MUS)
designed to provide water for
to education for agriculture
domestic and agriculture use
Agriculture - Weak Market Context
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Nepal agriculture is highly subsistence, only 13% of
agricultural produce is marketed
Private sector present mostly in district capitals
Most private companies in agriculture are small, lack
technical staff, and function as distributors of
imported inputs
Nepal has very good markets for high value
commodities but there is a basic market failure
constraining private investment:
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Free rider problem: company A organizes and
trains farmers, but companies B,C,D reap returns
Commercial Pocket Approach
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Over the last 10 years iDE with partners especially
CEAPRED has developed an approach to commercialize
smallholder agriculture
Key features are creating sufficient volume of production in
a rural community to establish:
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A community managed collection / processing centre for
market access (which requires mangers/staff)
Local Service Providers marketing inputs, equipment,
and giving embedded training (need training!)
iDE has developed more than 200 commercial pockets
serving over 150,000 HHs
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Approach mainstreamed by USAID/donors/GON
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Applies across subsectors!
Collection / Processing Centers (CC)
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100 to 1,000 HHs organised in groups of 20 HHs
Farmers elect a Marketing and Planning Committee
(MPC) to establish and manage a collection centre.
The MPC includes/is advised by input suppliers,
traders, GON extension, and other stakeholders
The MPC selects entrepreneur(s) to manage the CC
Over time, many CC become cooperatives
Services provided include: marketing, detailed crop
calendars, technical support, inputs, credit, linkage
to government services, advocacy…
CCs are a Public Private Partnership approach
Collection Centres!
Sustainable Farmer Organization
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Our key entry point is the
development of
sustainable farmer
organisation
Farmer organisation built
and maintained not by
project resources but by
management of an
economic opportunity
(crop production, essential
oil processing, community
forestry management,
other)
Commercial pockets make
possible application of HH-level
and community-level resilient
agriculture technologies
250,000 Micro Irrigation Systems Sold
USAID Initiative for Climate Change Adaptation (ICCA) project.
Drip saves water and increases yields!
Over 250 Multiple Use Water Systems
covering more than 50,000 people
Working with IWMI and GON to
Institutionalize the MUS
Approach. IWMI study shows
MUS benefit/cost is 11 to 1!
IPM Packages using safe bio-agents
USAID IPM Innovation Lab with NARC/DOA
USAID Administrator Dr. Shah
meeting a local service
provider trained by IPM Lab
marketing IPM bio-agents for
Agricare Pvt. Ltd.
Commercial pockets enable
climate adaptation interventions
and planning
Climate Change Adaption
Commercial pocket farmer organisation:
 Facilitates Local Adaption Plans of Action (LAPA)
 Promotes resilient practices through crop calendars
 Provides mechanism for pest/disease management
 Allows local assessment of climate change
impacts and enables farmers to seek solutions
 Facilitates/provides access to finance and insurance
 Reduces transaction costs of information to smallholders
 Piloting use of collection centres using SMS to
provide actionable information to their members
 Important for Climate Change/Adaption in education!
Thoughts on Agriculture Education Needs
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Project / Public sector: higher degrees / vocational
degrees / certifications (Key areas: agri-business, agriculture
engineering, IPM/plant protection, irrigation, micro-irrigation,
coop management / social mobilization, finance/insurance)
Private Sector (primarily focused on input/equip supply):
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Community Business Facilitator (CBF, sales agent) certificate or 2
year degree (large numbers)
Input/equipment supply chain needs technical staff to train and
manage sales agents (BSc/MSc)
Key subsectors: Horticulture/spices, essential oils/NTFPs,
livestock, coffee, tea, fisheries, and conservation agriculture
(mechanization)
Need business planning/budgeting/marketing skills!
Estimate of iDE Program Education Needs
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Over the next 5 years in the USAID Pahal, DFID
Anukulan BRACED and other projects iDE will be working
with about 400,000 smallholder HHs
Project Staff: 100+ BSc/Advanced Degrees, 400
CTEVT 2 year, SLC/Certificates/training 800 mobilizers
Private Sector: 40 BSc/Advanced, 2,000+ Community
Business Facilitators (mix of 2 year / certificates),
nursery operators 4,000 (certificates)
Applied Approach at Nat Level: 1,400 BSc+, 15,000
CTEVT 2 year, 60,000 (certificates)
Improved training for degree and non-degree
people from USAID Innovate, Universities, and
CTEVT would greatly increase impact!
Areas where iDE Could Help
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Prioritizing practical agricultural educational needs
Assisting for practical curriculum supporting agricultural
commercialization including certificate programs (CBFs,
nurseries)
Specific technical areas: micro irrigation/water
resource development, IPM, horticulture, business
planning / agriculture marketing, coop development,
essential oil development
Follow-up: (1) iDE happy to host a field based scoping
team with innovate/stakeholders to assess education
needs and improve the CBF training and look at CTEVT
certification (2) Working with Innovate/stakeholders for
a focused workshop on the scoping study findings
Education is key for Agricultural
Commercialization in Nepal!
THANK
YOU!!!
Photos by Bimala Rai Colavito, iDE Volunteer