Last Week, Giulia De Castro, Youth and Women Liaison and Initiatives Manager at the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) represented the Organisation at the AgriGRADE Action Lab, held at FAO Headquarters in Rome.

Hosted by the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations Organisations, the event brought together organisations working in agriculture and rural development to examine how the AgriGRADE framework is being applied in practice. Participants reviewed early results from ongoing initiatives in Tanzania and Kenya and discussed how more structured collaboration could make farmer-focused interventions both more effective and more efficient.

AgriGRADE offers a structured, data-informed approach to strengthen farmer organisations and cooperatives and connect them to markets and finance. It includes a practical roadmap for collaboration, tools to assess progress, and mechanisms for building targeted partnerships. The model emphasises coordination across sectors, local relevance, and linking farmers organisations with market opportunities.

Founding partners include SCOPEinsight, Oikocredit, IDH, Agriterra, the Farmfit Fund, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her intervention, Giulia De Castro shared WFO’s central message: farmers should not be passive recipients of support—they must have a say in shaping the solutions that affect them.

“True engagement means involving farmers in the design phase, understanding their real needs, and building systems that work for them—not just about them. Standardisation is undoubtedly important—it brings transparency, comparability, and data consistency. But we cannot lose sight of local realities. Standardised approaches must remain flexible and responsive to context,” she stated.

On the topic of standardisation, she emphasised the importance of tools that reflect what farmer organisations face on the ground, not just what external funders want to measure. While common standards can offer consistency and comparability, they must be adaptable to different production systems, governance models, and local realities.

Taking the conversation forward, the WFO representative underlined the importance of systematic collaboration as a foundation for achieving long-term, scalable impact with and for farmer organisations. No single actor in the value chain can address the complexity of today’s agricultural challenges alone. For collaboration to be meaningful, some key questions must be addressed: What mechanisms can ensure that farmer organisations are engaged as co-creators and decision-makers rather than as passive recipients? How can standardised approaches remain flexible and grounded in local realities? And what kinds of governance structures are needed to foster trust and accountability across diverse stakeholders?

WFO recognise the strategic value of farmer-generated data for attracting investment, improving services, and shaping better policies. However, this must be done transparently, with data ownership clearly in the hands of the farmers. WFO also sees the peer-to-peer learning platforms as a promising yet underutilised tools, particularly those facilitating exchanges across sectors and regions. These platforms can help accelerate innovation and build credibility among farmer organisations.

Reflecting on the practical application of such frameworks, WFO also acknowledges several common pitfalls. These include the risk of overlooking informal or hybrid farmer organisations that may not fit standard eligibility criteria, as well as the absence of robust long-term monitoring once pilot projects conclude. Important questions remain around how participating farmer organisations are selected and how to ensure that processes are inclusive, fair, and sustainable across diverse contexts.

Looking ahead, WFO proposed two concrete steps to support this shift. First, by leveraging its role as a global network, WFO could help link AgriGRADE with on-the-ground farmer organisations and cooperatives, ensuring closer engagement and stronger local ownership. Second, WFO proposed convening a joint learning session with farmers, technical partners, and investors to explore what systematic collaboration looks like in practice, starting with real field cases.

As AgriGRADE continues to evolve, WFO sees strong potential for it to contribute to a more inclusive and connected support system for farmer organisations. For this to be effective, farmers must be involved from the outset—helping shape, deliver, and assess the very models designed to support them. And most importantly, they must experience the outcomes in ways that are tangible and relevant to their daily lives.

WFO will continue to advocate for the leadership and participation of farmers, ensuring that their insights and priorities are fully embedded in collaborative approaches that aim to support them.

Image courtesy of Cees van Rij, Director of AgriGRADE