Wageningen University and Research Centre is an internationally leading knowledge institution, making essential contributions to the quality of life with pioneering research and innovative teaching programmes in the areas of nutrition and health, sustainable agro systems, a viable environment and processes of social change.
WUR and producer organisations
A wide range of researchers and experts work on issues that could be relevant for producer organisations in the South. Strengthening producer organisations is the aim of several specific research and capacity building activities:
- Supporting POs capacities in service delivery to their members, through applied research and training.
- Specialized research and advice relevant for agricultural development and chain partnerships.
- Monitoring the role and effectiveness of producer organisations in service delivery and agricultural innovation is part research and education.
- Experiences from the Dutch cooperative movement are being used as input in learning processes of producer organisations in the South
WUR and Agri-ProFocus
Agri-ProFocus will link the demand from producer organisations with the available knowledge within Wageningen UR, and will fuel research with ‘real experiences’ from organized producers developing their capacities to increase market access and/or service delivery to their members. Positive social and technological change does not follow automatically from research and technological innovation. Impact depends on the capacities of the relevant actors and institutions to take advantage of these innovations and insights. Better functioning linkages or hubs between these producer organisations and the knowledge generation within Wageningen UR is therefore essential. Agri-ProFocus makes it possible to better coordinate with the producer organisations and their supporting organisations and adapt research and training of Wageningen UR better to their needs.