In Ghana and elsewhere, FFPOs and forest and farm producers are on the front line of the risks and impacts of land degradation. But as has been illustrated during the Covid-19 crisis, FFPOs also have a key role in supporting or directly providing services that governments sometimes find it challenging to deliver. Supporting FFPOs is thus key to building long-term resilience to risks and shocks.

FFPOs build the capacity of otherwise isolated and marginalized women, men and youth producers to achieve financial, food and fuel security, increase their resilience and adaptability to land degradation and climate change, enhance their capacity to sustainably manage their lands and farms, and boost their participation in policy processes. FFPOs are rooted in and connected among themselves, and are built on the ownership of their inter-generational assets and based on local knowledge, which is a strong basis for building additional knowledge.

Forest and farm producers are the members and owners of these FFPOs, and therefore no one knows better what their needs are. If they are engaged in finding solutions, they will be more motivated to implement them because of their obvious interest in improving their own situation. Also, through their organizational structure, peerto-peer learning can lead rapidly to a wide uptake of good practices and achieve sustained results at scale. FFPOs therefore offer services to, and leverage the role of, local and national governments since they can assess producer needs and evaluate policy efficacy in ways that governments may not be able to. They can also greatly increase the participation and influence of members in policy processes
that affect them (FAO 2014).