Main orientations for yield and quality improvement and loss reduction (roll-out of 20 Steps)
Morning discussion session
There are quite some questions that require strategic answers in order to further roll-out the 20 steps. We would like to share with you six fundamental questions. Answers to these would help the SBN and its support programme to move forward in the coming years.
1. Farmers and cooperative involvement in roll-out 20 steps
There are now more than 1700 model farmers trained, this means that there are at least 5-15 model farmers per cooperative. How best to involve farmer specialists and cooperatives in the roll-out of the 20 steps? What practical actions do you suggest?
2. Specific approach for investor farmers
There are around 68.000 small farmers and 2000 investor farmers. Each group cultivates about 50% of the sesame area. What specific strategy is needed for investor farmers? What are key points of attention and priority actions?
3. Adoptability of recommended agricultural practices (cf. 20 steps)
Some of the recommended agricultural practices are better accepted, accessible, affordable and/or attractive than other practices. How to make the recommended agricultural practices sufficiently acceptable, accessible, affordable and attractive for farmers? What needs to be done for some of the key steps?
4. Input finance
One of the major barriers for adoption is the ability of farmers to pay for the (additional) costs of the recommended practices in the 20 steps. How to address the critical problem of farmers’ access to input finance?
5. Translating market demand in production decisions
Different markets (bakery, tahini, oil) require different sesame characteristics. What needs to be done to translate market demand into production decisions?
6. Risk management and risk mitigation
Farming is a risky venture : rains may be too little, too late, too much. There are many pests and diseases. Storms may destroy standing crops and drying hillas. Farmers are very sensitive to risks and seek to avoid these. What are the major production risks, how do these risks affect the adoption of the 20 steps? What can be done to reduce/mitigate these risks?