Agriterra has called its new strategy "Farmer common sense in business". Agriterra is the development cooperation organisation of the agricultural business and cooperative sector in the Netherlands. It is based in Arnhem and focuses on strengthening the position of similar agricultural associations and companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the market and the commercial and supply chains, as well as their dealings with governments. Agriterra does this together with Dutch farmers and with staff and managers of Dutch farmers’ organisations and cooperatives. They share with their peers abroad their experience in and knowledge of production improvement, service provision, cooperative entrepreneurship and advocacy. The idea behind all this is that to guarantee rapid economic growth, democracy, and a more equitable distribution of prosperity, you need a strong and organised agricultural sector.
Agriterra is working at a high pace towards its renewal, professionalisation and internationalisation. The premise is that farmers’ organisations and cooperatives in developing countries should expect no less than that they will become stronger through Agriterra's advisory input.
Agriterra is ready to face the future! Its employment agency, Agripool, is becoming more international. Agriterra is reducing its financial services and is focusing more keenly on advisory services, which allow its clients themselves to access financing from the market. The number of Agriterra business advisors based abroad will increase. All of these adjustments have their consequences. Agriterra has modified its structure and now includes two departments: agri-advice and operations. The two professionals who are introduced below manage these departments.
José Levelink, M. Sc., is manager of the operations department since
1 April 2015. She will be managing more than fifteen employees, including the analysts, the communication staff, the ICT professionals and the receptionists. José (born in 1956) grew up on a dairy farm in the province of Overijssel. She studied anthropology in Amsterdam and later lived for more than 15 years in Indonesia, where she performed a variety of jobs as a consultant. Together with her husband, she runs the Matahari company since 2000, which acts as a broker for Asian coffee and cacao. José Levelink started working for Agriterra in 2003 as a volunteer. Later she fulfilled a number of positions in various departments: financing, quality & support, and monitoring & evaluation. She knows all about Agriterra's goings-on, particularly in the fields of financial management, procedures, monitoring & evaluation, and agro info.net. As head of the operations department, she manages staff with the goal of making the results of Agriterra's work visible for other colleagues, agri-agencies, clients, and other stakeholders.
Contact José Levelink: levelink@agriterra.org, tel. 026-3542075
Cees van Rij, MBA, is manager of the agri-advice department since 1 April 2015. He will be managing more than twenty business advisors, both at Agriterra HQ in Arnhem and abroad. He also manages Agripool, Agriterra's employment agency. Cees (born in 1967) grew up in a mixed dairy crops farm in Rockanje, in the South Holland province. His great grandfather co-founded the “De Eersteling” steam dairy cooperative factory in Brielle in 1896. After completing the Agricultural Secondary School, he studied Tropical Agriculture (Larenstein, 1993). He worked as a farmer in his parents' family farm. He has been involved with Agriterra as far back as 1994, when he worked as a volunteer for its predecessor. During that period he was also working as a tour guide for international trips. He was posted abroad for an extended period in Ecuador, where he worked as an advisor for farmers’ organisations – and as an entrepreneur: he was at the heart of the creation of the agribusiness tour operator, Runa Tupari and of the savings and credit cooperative, Santa Anita de Cotacachi. Cees started working for Agriterra in 2002 and worked for a long time as a liaison officer on three continents. He earned his MBA degree from Nyenrode University in 2008 and since 2011 has fulfilled management positions in Agriterra.
Contact Cees van Rij: vanrij@agritera.org, tel. 026-3542004
