By Emmy Zoomlamai Ok | Director
In early 2019, FICH carried out sensitization and identification of lead farmers and farmers, the selection of eligible farmers and recruitment process started and was further conducted. This included field mobilization and organization of farmers into village groups and training of the farmers on the technical aspects of growing soy bean and chia.
In the field, farmers who had been sensitized about the program and who had expressed interest in taking part in it gathered based on their locations. FICH has used the existing network of contacts to reach farmers and organize group meetings in the villages. For each group, farmers’ names were recorded along with the size of their land and the crop they wished to grow. In addition, lead farmers were nominated for each group based on reputation and ability to coordinate the groups. The lead farmer in each group supports in mobilization and passing on information to their fellow farmers.
Farmers were organized in to thirty (30) members each group of twenty-two groups in total. FICH also developed work plan in consultation with an investor who is the buyer of this products, monitoring groups performance and providing training through demonstration plots of chia and soy bean to farmers. Training farmers through demonstration plots has been delivered to the farmers and focuses on simple principles using available resources to the farmers.
After mobilization of farmers and registering those interested in participating in the project, the lists of farmers indicating the crop of preference and acreage to grow was shared with buyer to request for the provision of seeds. The amount of chia seeds requested was based on the overall size of land planned to be planted by the farmers and the crops they decided to grow.
FICH developed a contract for each farmer where lead farmer and distributor of seeds signed. The contract reminds farmers of the loan principle which is crucial to this contract farming program; returning two times of seed as they had received upon collection in July/August. This short talk before each distribution was to ensure clarity and also invited time and space for any remaining questions on the subject to be answered. Currently post-harvest handling is ongoing.
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