Supporting self-organisation in farmer organisations in developing countries

A case with a group of farmer groups in Indonesia

Journal Article (2023)
Author(s)

Kusnandar Kusnandar (TU Delft - System Engineering)

Olaf van Kooten (Wageningen University & Research)

F. Brazier (TU Delft - System Engineering)

Research Group
System Engineering
Copyright
© 2023 K. Kusnandar, Olaf van Kooten, F.M. Brazier
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcom.2023.100214
More Info
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Publication Year
2023
Language
English
Copyright
© 2023 K. Kusnandar, Olaf van Kooten, F.M. Brazier
Research Group
System Engineering
Issue number
2
Volume number
11
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Abstract

Governance through self-organisation in which participation is essential has been acknowledged to be important to enable farmer organisations to perform their roles in a sustainable manner. This paper focuses on empowering farmer organisations in developing countries to self-organise their governance to deal with encountered challenges. To this purpose, a co-creation approach was implemented with a group of farmer groups located in a horticultural production centre in Indonesia. In multiple co-creation sessions organised over time, the need for a new form of governance was identified, solutions proposed, (partially) implemented, evaluated and adapted. The results show that: 1) through co-creation, farmer organisations in developing countries can be empowered to self-organise; 2) self-organisation facilitates farmer organisations to learn to adapt to change; 3) self-organisation increases the commitment of farmer members; and 4) decentralised governance is a promising solution for growing farmer organisations.