Accra: The Farmers Organizations Mobilizing for Political Opportunities (FOMPO) project recently concluded with a validation and dissemination workshop held in Accra. The four-year initiative aimed to foster sustainable agricultural development through collaborative research between academia and civil society, involving key partners such as the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Lund University, Malmo University, and the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
According to Ghana News Agency, the FOMPO project focused on understanding the dynamics of farmer mobilization for sustainable and smallholder-centered agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in Ghana, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The project sought to strengthen action-oriented research capacity, promoting critically engaged research for sustainable agricultural development in these regions.
The FOMPO approach emphasized the scientific and societal advantages of conducting comparative research through deep collaboration between academic institutions and civil society. This involved case-based in-depth fieldwork guided by the synthesis approach to social movement studies. This approach highlighted the interactions between framing processes, mobilizing structures, and political opportunities, aiming to generate practically useful knowledge and advance theory.
Mr. Bismark Owusu Nortey, Acting Executive Director of PFAG, explained that the project was initiated to address how farmer associations could overcome political barriers to sustainable and inclusive agricultural development in SSA. This was achieved by analyzing the conditions, development, and outcomes of farmer-based political mobilization in rural areas across Ghana, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. In Ghana, PFAG was the primary farmer group involved in this assessment over the past four years, revealing key findings.
Mr. Nortey noted that advocacy campaigns were significantly influencing government policies and initiatives, helping support farmers in producing and feeding the country more effectively. Professor Chad Boda, an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at the Department of Urban Studies, Malmo University, Sweden, highlighted challenges faced by PFAG as an advocacy organization, including staff and membership stability, diversity in member needs, and various projects being promoted.
