Second External Rice Advisory Group (ERAG)

Transcript:Second External Rice Advisory Group (ERAG):
Second External Rice Advisory Group (ERAG) Consultation on the Formulation of a Rice Strategy for Asia Inputs/Services Delivery Marketing, Price Efficiency Farmers Organizations/Cooperatives 28-29 November 2013 Bangkok, Thailand By Ralph Houtman, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Overview Inputs Services Delivery Marketing Price Efficiency Farmers Organizations and Cooperatives 2/11 Inputs Fertilizer and agro chemicals are generally marketed by the private sector, sometimes by cooperatives There may be issues with: quality, e.g (previous years’) old stock fertilizer and the (in)correct use of agro-chemicals The causes may lie in a combination of: Poor knowledge and information available to the farmers (poor extension) and Private shops selling the wrong herbicide or pesticide (extension and availability) In most countries, the probably most important input, seed, is often government-produced, leading to insufficient supply of fresh seed, farmers use last year’s seed for too many years, affecting yields There are questions about whether the right varieties are being made available The so-called “productivity gap” can be partly traced back to the above imperfections 3/11 Services Delivery Growing agricultural labor shortages in several countries Increased cost of labor causes a shift to production systems with greater level of mechanization Increased need for investment in machinery (larger farmers) Increased demand for all sorts of contracting mechanization services: ploughing, combine harvesters, spraying, water pumping, transportation Increased mechanization will require increased investment which financial service providers will need to cater for, including innovative financing schemes (e.g. leasing, hire-purchase, financing of dealers) Potential for the landless to employ themselves as contractors (with their machinery like power tiller, tractor) Potential for delivery of recordkeeping, accounting and reporting services to farmers groups who run their own savings and loan schemes 4/11 Marketing Traditional farm-to-retail chain has many steps; each link may in itself be “competitive” but the chain as a whole may be not as efficient as it could be Farmers are well informed about the factors that affect the rice prices But they usually cannot influence these factors, or the farm gate price Prices are seasonal, determined by harvest time Flexible financing arrangements which allow farmers to delay sale after harvest may help reduce price seasonality Government procurement has no good track record The desire for low retail prices and high farm gate prices means that there are many interventionist policies, especially in import/export but also in production subsidies, financing, maintenance of stocks, etc. There is domestic and global demand