Education for Agricultural Commercialization ide Nepal Experience, Needs, and Observations

Transcription

1 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

2 Presentation Overview Agricultural Commercialization Context and Approach Climate Change Thoughts on Agriculture Education Needs Direct Estimate ide program Agricultural educational needs Areas ide could contribute to education for agriculture Multiple Use Water System (MUS) designed to provide water for domestic and agriculture use

3 Agriculture - Weak Market Context 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: Free rider problem: company A organizes and trains farmers, but companies B,C,D reap returns

4 Commercial Pocket Approach 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: 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 Approach mainstreamed by USAID/donors/GON Applies across subsectors!

5 Collection / Processing Centers (CC) 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

6 Collection Centres!

7 Sustainable Farmer Organization 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)

8 Commercial pockets make possible application of HH-level and community-level resilient agriculture technologies

9 250,000 Micro Irrigation Systems Sold USAID Initiative for Climate Change Adaptation (ICCA) project. Drip saves water and increases yields!

10 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!

11 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.

12 Commercial pockets enable climate adaptation interventions and planning

13 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!

14 Thoughts on Agriculture Education Needs 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): 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!

15 Estimate of ide Program Education Needs 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!

16 Areas where ide Could Help 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

17 Education is key for Agricultural Commercialization in Nepal! THANK YOU!!! Photos by Bimala Rai Colavito, ide Volunteer