Aquaculture farmer organizations and cluster management: concepts and experiences

6.3.6 Policy influence 
Another opportunity that small-scale aquaculture FOs can capitalize on is their 
increased ability to influence change on a larger scale. As noted in Chapters 2 and 5, 
the institutional and wider economic environment has a considerable bearing on FO 
development and internal and external relations. Formal laws and government policies 
affect the environment for FO development and determine whether it is an enabling 
or disabling one. Thus, if FOs are to succeed, they need to function in a conducive 
environment and can play some role in ensuring that such an environment exists. 
However, it must be noted that moving from a disabling institutional environment 
associated with economic stagnation to an enabling environment associated with 
economic growth and development can be a slow and difficult process, and the process 
of change will be an incremental one. Thus, FOs cannot expect to make huge changes 
overnight; nevertheless, FOs provide one of the few effective ways in which small 
farmers can have their voices heard and their interests protected.
6.4
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
This review has sought to provide some guidance for public and private actors who 
are involved with supporting small-scale aquaculture development in developing 
countries. It has explored the challenges facing aquaculture farmers and has examined 
the role that small-scale aquaculture FOs can play in assisting small-scale aquaculture 
farmers to respond to these challenges. Through examining the experiences of 
successful aquaculture FOs, this review has shown how FOs can assist small-scale 
aquaculture farmers to connect to input suppliers and buyers of their products; address 
issues related to improving their compliance to international food safety standards; and 
improve small farmers’ access to technical knowledge (including BMPs) and financial 
and technical services, particularly towards improving biosecurity and decreasing 
disease risks.
Through highlighting the recent success of the cluster management and farmer 
societies concept in India and distilling lessons for success from the case studies and 
the wider literature, the review shows how cluster management and aquaculture FOs 
can be applied as useful mechanisms to support aquaculture development in developing 
countries, enabling small farmers to increase their access to input and output markets 

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Conclusion
and services and to increase their productivity and income. Finally, the review has 
proposed certain support and actions needed to establish and develop FOs, which 
can successfully facilitate the delivery of services to small-scale aquaculture farmers 
and through advocacy can effectively influence the government to develop responsive 
policies that are focused towards support of the small-scale sector. 

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