Bertus Wennink, Suzanne Nederlof and Willem Heemskerk (eds.): Access of the Poor to Agricultural Services.

Fatima, Nishat

Bertus Wennink, Suzanne Nederlof and Willem Heemskerk (eds.) Access of the Poor to Agricultural Services. Amsterdam: KIT. 2008. 157 pages. Hardback. Price not given.

This bulletin gives a brilliant account of the increasing role played by rural-based farmer's organisations in poverty ridden Sub-Saharan Africa. For both the public and private sectors, these organisations arrange the purchase of inputs and sale of output on a more cost effective basis; represent the interests and collective voice of farmers; impart knowledge services such as agricultural research, advisory and other types of farmer's training. The book answers two major questions: How do the poorest class gain access to, and benefit from, agricultural services? What is the role of farmer's organisations in socially inclusive access to these services, and to what extent is membership of the farmer's organisations a determining factor for this?

The bulletin is categorised into two parts. Part I discusses the social inclusion of the deprived and vulnerable farmers, in the context of poverty, sustainable livelihoods, and empowerment, and subsequently providing a tentative conceptual framework for an active social inclusion strategy. Part II contains description of case studies of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Benin that were used for the analysis of social inclusion. They investigate the current role of farmer's organisations in facilitating access of the poorest to agricultural services. These are also of great help to identifying the conditions under which farmer's organisations can enhance social inclusions.