News
Stone by stone
The relentless work of the Agripool expert Isabel Díaz
La Paz, February 2019
The first time I met the Agripool expert Ms. Isabel Díaz, it was in the coastal city of Aviles, Spain. From Aviles to the city of El Alto (Bolivia) there are more than 9,000km (one quarter of the Earth circumference) plus 4 km difference in altitude. At this height oxygen levels drop to almost half and you start to grasp for breath and feel dizzy. To top it all, at the same time that Isabel was carrying out her human resources (HR) advisory mission with El Ceibo, a 100 meters away there were strikes and the constant sound of police sirens and protesters. Taken all these conditions together, it was not easy to perform a good job. Nevertheless, Isabel exceed expectations.
Young farmers achieve it together!
The Annual General Meeting of AgriCord/Agriterra on 15, 16 and 17 May 2019 in Rotterdam was a great success. European Commissioner Phil Hogan, Dutch Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten, President of LTO Marc Calon, Vice President of CEJA Iris Bouwers and Kees Blokland of Agriterra attended the panel debate on 16 May with young guest farmers and Dutch farmers. The young guest farmers from Africa and Europe presented an approach on how to implement the six recommendations of the EC Task Force Report for future collaboration between the European Union and Africa, as they are the farmers of the future.
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The cooperative and the company: A game changer for smallholders
Toan Thang Agricultural Service Cooperative (TTAC) was founded in 1960 and is located in Hai Toan village, Hai Hau district, Nam Dinh province of Vietnam. Since 2016 they have transformed to a new cooperative model. Currently it has 456 rice grower members. Their main services to members are input supply of fertiliser, pesticides and seedling, land preparation and other output services such as collecting, processing of rice and medicinal plants. After a scoping for potential, TTAC has been Agriterra’ s client since September 2017.
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Good results Female Leadership Training in Ethiopia
Women’s participation in the agricultural sector
Female farmers are underrepresented in agricultural cooperatives in Ethiopia. This reflects women’s low ownership and control over assets, their time constraints, low representation in the cooperative boards due to persistent gender discrimination and gender stereotyping. Women are generally viewed to be unfit for leadership and subsequently there is a lack of support for women’s entry to leadership structures. Therefore, they have low self-esteem, inadequate leadership skills and experience and many cultural barriers.
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