Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda

Organic agriculture requires farmers with the ability to develop profitable agro-enterprises on their own. By drawing on four years of experiences with the Enabling Rural Innovation approach in Uganda, we outline how smallholder farmers transition to organic agriculture and, at the same time, increa...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hauser, M., Aigelsperger, L, Owamani, A, Delve, Robert J.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43632
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author Hauser, M.
Aigelsperger, L
Owamani, A
Delve, Robert J.
author_browse Aigelsperger, L
Delve, Robert J.
Hauser, M.
Owamani, A
author_facet Hauser, M.
Aigelsperger, L
Owamani, A
Delve, Robert J.
author_sort Hauser, M.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Organic agriculture requires farmers with the ability to develop profitable agro-enterprises on their own. By drawing on four years of experiences with the Enabling Rural Innovation approach in Uganda, we outline how smallholder farmers transition to organic agriculture and, at the same time, increase their entrepreneurial skills and competences through learning. In order to document this learning we operationalised the Kirkpatrick learning evaluation model, which subsequently informed the collection of qualitative data in two study sites. Our analysis suggests that the Enabling Rural Innovation approach helps farmers to develop essential capabilities for identifying organic markets and new organic commodities, for testing these organic commodities under varying organic farm management scenarios, and for negotiating contracts with organic traders. We also observed several obstacles that confront farmers’ transition to organic agriculture when using the Enabling Rural Innovation approach. These include the long duration of agronomic experimentation and seed multiplication, expensive organic certification procedures and the absence of adequate mechanism for farmers to access crop finance services. Despite prevailing obstacles we conclude that the Enabling Rural Innovation approach provides a starting point for farmers to develop entrepreneurial competences and profitable agro-enterprises on their own.
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spelling CGSpace436322024-01-17T12:58:34Z Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda Hauser, M. Aigelsperger, L Owamani, A Delve, Robert J. organic agriculture innovation learning profitability self sufficiency farms small farms agricultura orgánica innovación aprendizaje autosuficiencia rentabilidad explotaciones agrarias pequeño agricultor Organic agriculture requires farmers with the ability to develop profitable agro-enterprises on their own. By drawing on four years of experiences with the Enabling Rural Innovation approach in Uganda, we outline how smallholder farmers transition to organic agriculture and, at the same time, increase their entrepreneurial skills and competences through learning. In order to document this learning we operationalised the Kirkpatrick learning evaluation model, which subsequently informed the collection of qualitative data in two study sites. Our analysis suggests that the Enabling Rural Innovation approach helps farmers to develop essential capabilities for identifying organic markets and new organic commodities, for testing these organic commodities under varying organic farm management scenarios, and for negotiating contracts with organic traders. We also observed several obstacles that confront farmers’ transition to organic agriculture when using the Enabling Rural Innovation approach. These include the long duration of agronomic experimentation and seed multiplication, expensive organic certification procedures and the absence of adequate mechanism for farmers to access crop finance services. Despite prevailing obstacles we conclude that the Enabling Rural Innovation approach provides a starting point for farmers to develop entrepreneurial competences and profitable agro-enterprises on their own. 2010 2014-09-24T08:42:26Z 2014-09-24T08:42:26Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43632 en Open Access
spellingShingle organic agriculture
innovation
learning
profitability
self sufficiency
farms
small farms
agricultura orgánica
innovación
aprendizaje
autosuficiencia
rentabilidad
explotaciones agrarias
pequeño agricultor
Hauser, M.
Aigelsperger, L
Owamani, A
Delve, Robert J.
Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda
title Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda
title_full Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda
title_fullStr Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda
title_full_unstemmed Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda
title_short Learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market-oriented organic agriculture in rural Uganda
title_sort learning achievements of farmers during the transition to market oriented organic agriculture in rural uganda
topic organic agriculture
innovation
learning
profitability
self sufficiency
farms
small farms
agricultura orgánica
innovación
aprendizaje
autosuficiencia
rentabilidad
explotaciones agrarias
pequeño agricultor
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43632
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AT owamania learningachievementsoffarmersduringthetransitiontomarketorientedorganicagricultureinruraluganda
AT delverobertj learningachievementsoffarmersduringthetransitiontomarketorientedorganicagricultureinruraluganda