COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers programme is a powerful partnership that brings together farmers, learning institutions, information and communication technology (ICT) providers (including mobile phone companies) and banks. By gaining access to relevant learning and credit, farmers are empowered to improve their livelihoods, with far-reaching impacts on communities.
L3 Farmers was launched in Tamil Nadu, India in 2004 and has since been replicated in Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka. While the objective is to facilitate the creation of a self-sustaining programme, COL provides ongoing support to L3 Farmers initiatives. Here is an update from India.
25,000 Farmers Ask India’s Banks to Value Learning
A meeting of stakeholders in COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers programme drew an estimated 6,000 people in Tamil Nadu, India in November 2010. Comprised mostly of self-help groups and farmers, the predominantly women participants also included representatives from universities, banks and mobile phone companies.
At the meeting in Bodinaikanur (Bodi), Tamil Nadu, organisers presented senior bankers with a petition signed by more than 25,000 people who work in agriculture. The petition requested the Reserve Bank of India and other banks to consider four suggestions to help improve the livelihoods of people working in agriculture:
- Banks and financial institutions should invest 2% of their total agricultural and self-help group (SHG) credit portfolio in providing credit-specific learning packages to the borrowers of agricultural credit as well as to the SHGs, which would not only help the borrowing poor community but also enhance the repayment rates to the banks.
- The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Assessment of Self‐Help Groups is based on nine principles. We suggest that NABARD should include capacity building as the tenth principle. SHGs with well organised capacity building should be given a better assessment.
- Appropriate institutional arrangements involving various stakeholders such as universities, NGOs, private sectors, banks, telecom companies etc. should be evolved for the delivery of the capacity building process through ODL mode using modern ICT, and certification procedures need to be established.
- Community banking (which is based on social capital, community‐based organisation, joint liability and responsibility of the community) is not the same as microfinance institutions (which are managed by external institutions). Community banking needs a distinctive recognition by the government and the financial institutions.
“The immense support for this petition reflects the recognition that learning is an essential part of farming today,” explained Dr. K. Balasubramanian, COL Education Specialist, Agriculture and Livelihoods. “We are hopeful that the banks and policy makers will consider the constructive suggestions put forward in the petition.”
In his address to the large crowd in Bodi, COL President Sir John Daniel explained COL’s role in promoting learning for development.
“Our role is not to give you money and tell you what to do, but to help you do what you think is best in a way that creates sustainable improvements in your livelihoods and prosperity,” Sir John noted. “At that point, COL is happy to move on and help other communities, knowing that you are on a secure path to better lives and richer communities.”
Bankers who attended the meeting in Bodi are bringing forward the suggestions to their organisations. The petition has also been forwarded to the Prime Minister of India and other key policy makers in an effort to generate discussion at the national level.
April 2011