China’s big step in participation in policymaking

In China, important policy improvements were made for land, insurance, finance and human resource. These were submitted in four reports to the Ministry of Agriculture. Specific suggestions were brought forward to relevant departments concerning set-up of taxation items. Five policy dialogues were conducted: one was attended by 89 representatives from 89 cooperatives to modify the China Farmers’ Cooperative Law; another discussed internal credit cooperation of farmers’ cooperatives among 75 farmers from 73 cooperatives; two were attended by representatives from 58 cooperatives to discuss feedback and suggestions on existing policies; and one focused on cooperative financial management, and was attended by representatives from 27 cooperatives. (

The Medium Term Cooperation Program Phase 2 (MTCP2), a five-year capacity building program supported by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and European Union (EU), has been implemented in 19 countries across 3 sub-regions—Southeast Asia, South Asia, Pacific—engaging 1,544 sub-national farmer organizations with total membership of around 22 million women and men farmers. The funding support (total budget of $ 5 Million for whole duration of project across 19 countries) serves as a catalytic fund that will allow FOs to enhance their capacity to be effective channels of economic services to farmers. The program thus far have contributed to the formation of strong national platform of Farmers’ Organization with improved capacity to engage in policy processes and mobilize resources from mainstream agricultural development programs like extension services, credit and pre and post harvest facilities. the program also helped in transforming farmers association into commodity-based cooperatives to strengthen the role of the small-scale farmers within an inclusive and sustainable value-chain. The program is being implemented by the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC).