Politicians make the policy. But it’s often left to business to implement it. For this reason RioPlus Business is featuring submissions from business across the globe in the lead up to Rio+20.
The aim is to demonstrate how Sustainable Development is becoming a reality on every continent, country and city.
Today, Lap Ll from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) China explains how the group have been working with phone company Nokia to help support farmer’ cooperatives and connect remote farmers to agricultural markets.
In Huayuan, a village 150 km northeast of Beijing with less than 700 residents, villagers are pooling their resources together to establish farmers’ cooperatives.
They have created a small miracle that not only doubles their income, but also brings the community closer together.
This is the result of a Nokia and IUCN China partnership to help improve farmers’ livelihoods options and strengthen local capacity for grassroot-level self-governance.
Farmers’ cooperatives enable farmers to pool their resources together for buying and selling agricultural products with greater bargaining power.
It also gives them better access to bank loans, and rights for striking business contracts. It places them on a more leveled playing field with business companies.
Yet perhaps more importantly, it enables communities to improve their livelihoods collectively, and helps build stronger capacity of self governance.
In 2010, Mrs. Yu Guifen and 17 other households formed an aquaculture co-op in Huayuan Village.
Mobilizing local resources and innovation, they initiated the use of running stream water and salt for disinfection (rather than antibiotics), and built green-house shelters to [...]
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