Supporting small-scale farmers: rights or markets?

International Institute for Environment and Develoment

Development support for small-scale farmers must be based on both the enforcement of basic human rights and a pro-poor development of markets. This was the conclusion of a seminar Rights-based versus market-based development: a false dichotomy for small-scale farmers? held in Stockholm, Sweden last week.

Rights-based approaches present a simplistic package of measures to tackle what are very diverse and complex problems on the ground. And they are not easily separated from markets — markets depend on rights and the way in which rights are constituted has profound implications for the way in which markets function, explained IIED researcher Diana Mitlin

Kimanzu of the of the Swedish Cooperative Centre echoed the need to support producer organizations as the most effective way of giving farmers a voice in markets. He talked about a programme in Costa Rica run by nongovernmental organization Sedeco that, by supporting an organic farmers association, has enabled small-scale farmers to compete with big multinationals such as Monsanto and penetrate the country’s organic production sector.

Brazil is not alone in focusing on school meal programmes to support smallholders. “There are many examples of countries that have built entire industries on these types of initiatives,” said Katarina Eriksson, from the Tetra Laval group. “Thailand, for example, has built its whole dairy industry on school milk and Iran is doing the same thing”.

Microfinance resources on the Internet - Information on institutions and regulatory measures for some countries

Clicking on the picture below you could access a mindmap providing information and links on the legal and institutional framework established in some developing countries to regulate the activities of microfinance institutions. The map has been developed using Mindmeister, one of the most popular web 2.0 site for publishing these diagrams on the Web.
Do the examined countries have a specific law to regulate the sector or request a particular legal status for these institutions to operate in the market? at the institutional level, there are ad hoc agencies or simply  ministerial departments administering the industry?

Hope you could find at least some of the answers there...

Mobile phones and broadband subscriptions in developing countries

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) the UN agency established to promote  the development of networks and services for information and communication technology released interesting statistical data on mobile phones sales and Internet access via broadband  connection. With regards to cell phones sales, the 3G technology is increasing its market share both in developed and developing countries. Main difference between 2G and 3G network resides in the faster data speeds offered by 3G. The 3G standard allows data, pictures and videos to be uploaded and downloaded quickly, while for voice use and text messaging, the differences between the two standards is minimal.
The developing world is increasing its share of mobile subscriptions from 53% of total mobile subscriptions at the end of 2005 to 73% at the end of 2010. In particular, countries like China and India and others in the Asia Pacific region are leading this growth.
The situation is still critical in Africa. While 71% of the population in developed countries are online, Internet user penetration in Africa will reach in 2010 only 9.6%, far behind both the world average (30%) and the developing country average (21%).

Further details on the access to the Internet are available on the Internet World Stats site.