This week, I took a quick side trip from my surveying to check out a training on the Participatory Guarantee System in the nearby province of Kandal, Cambodia. The Participatory Guarantee System (commonly referred to as PGS), is an alternative organic label and marketing system that meets farmers at their level and needs. Instead of attempting to adhere to complex and difficult to attain standards set up by international bodies, PGS brings together growers, buyers, and other community stakeholders to set production and handling standards that meet community-defined quality standards. This system relies on community trust and self-evaluation to ensure all members are adhering the the group’s standards.
As part of my research, I hope to be able to implement a similar training to introduce PGS to farmers in Battambang, Cambodia (where my project is based). I was very excited to have this opportunity, and my wonderful mentor from the Royal University of Agriculture went out of his way to drive me to this event and translate the training for me in real time. It would be a great opportunity to learn from PGS experts and learn some training organizing tips.
I will definitely replicate one of the exercises from this event at the next training or focus group I help organize. Frist, the moderator split up the participants into two groups: growers and industry or research technical experts. Next, both groups were presented with the same set of questions about production and handling techniques as well as (mis)conceptions about organic and conventional vegetables. Finally, the two groups shared their answers to see if there were similarities, differences of opinion, or information gaps between the two groups.
It was absolutely fascinating to see watch the two groups reveal their answers and see how they compared. Take the first question for example: If you don’t have to purchase pesticides, why are organically grown vegetables more expensive? Here both groups had pretty much the same answer. Organic vegetables take more labor such as weeding and compost preparation. However, there were different understandings on the next question: What is the role of the buyer in regards to food safety? In this case, the researchers, buyers and industry experts said their role is to identify best practices and find solutions. However, the growers said that buyers ultimately control the entire system and should do more work to train farmers and share their knowledge. This interesting discussion pointed to possible improvement on information exchange and relationship building that could be done to improve food safety in the vegetable production system.
The conversation sparked some interesting discussions about how to build more relationships between buyers and growers, and this training was definitely a great first step. I hope to bring some of these activities to my own work later this summer in Battambang.
As part of my research, I hope to be able to implement a similar training to introduce PGS to farmers in Battambang, Cambodia (where my project is based). I was very excited to have this opportunity, and my wonderful mentor from the Royal University of Agriculture went out of his way to drive me to this event and translate the training for me in real time. It would be a great opportunity to learn from PGS experts and learn some training organizing tips.
I will definitely replicate one of the exercises from this event at the next training or focus group I help organize. Frist, the moderator split up the participants into two groups: growers and industry or research technical experts. Next, both groups were presented with the same set of questions about production and handling techniques as well as (mis)conceptions about organic and conventional vegetables. Finally, the two groups shared their answers to see if there were similarities, differences of opinion, or information gaps between the two groups.
It was absolutely fascinating to see watch the two groups reveal their answers and see how they compared. Take the first question for example: If you don’t have to purchase pesticides, why are organically grown vegetables more expensive? Here both groups had pretty much the same answer. Organic vegetables take more labor such as weeding and compost preparation. However, there were different understandings on the next question: What is the role of the buyer in regards to food safety? In this case, the researchers, buyers and industry experts said their role is to identify best practices and find solutions. However, the growers said that buyers ultimately control the entire system and should do more work to train farmers and share their knowledge. This interesting discussion pointed to possible improvement on information exchange and relationship building that could be done to improve food safety in the vegetable production system.
The conversation sparked some interesting discussions about how to build more relationships between buyers and growers, and this training was definitely a great first step. I hope to bring some of these activities to my own work later this summer in Battambang.
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