Some of the principles and steps for social action models, community organizations, and management are used in designing the simplified step-wise approach in establishing FOs (Chamala, 1990). Care needs to be taken in selecting a person or a group of people who will take the lead in establishing community-based or commodity-based farmer organizations. This person - from another FO or government or other organization, such as a village extension worker - needs to be acquainted with and convinced of how the FO can be used to increase the income of small producers. In the following steps, the term VEW will be used to refer to the person or group of people selected to establish the FO.
Step 1. Understanding the Village Community
VEWs should enter the community with an open mind and understand the community structure. They must understand the community power structure, problems, and opportunities for development. Walking around and talking to key people can help ease their entry into the community. VEWs should also develop an under-standing of the entire community, including the poor and marginal farmers and women.
Some of the techniques that can help to understand the community are using key informant techniques, participating in the community meeting and tea stalls, and walking around. Understanding the ownership of community resources and people's attitude, knowledge, and skills in the development of agricultural production will help the VEW learn about the community. The VEW can also understand the situation in more depth by collecting both qualitative and quantitative information on the levels of income and productivity, costs of cultivation, post-harvest losses, output utilization, and the likelihood of making striking improvements to each of these factors.
Step 1 is crucial and cannot be done in a hurry. VEWs must spend some time (up to a month or so) to get the feel of the village community structure, politics, groups, and past experience in FOs.