Representation of agricultural producers’ interests: substantiation of the research construct
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Agriculture; Farmers; Participatory; Governance.
ENIntroduction. The research aims to substantiate a construct of the scientific research which enables assess the associated agricultural producers' involvement in agricultural policy-making processes. Materials and methods. Methods of scientific discourse analysis, survey of agricultural producers, statistical data analysis, systematization and synthesis of scientific insights were used. The theoretical background is based on analysis of management theories explaining a nature of inter-organizational interaction. Results and discussion. Representation of agricultural producers’ interests in policy making processes is inappropriate. We chose Lithuania as example and found that even 85.6 percent of farmers are completely not members of any association or union and only about 10 percent of them participate in activities of organizations of agricultural area. The research results show that in the context of EU financial support for agriculture the problem of stakeholder participation in policy making processes deforms the opportunities of big and small farmers to defend their interests. Participative and Collaborative Governance and concept of partnership and inter-organizational collaboration were achieved i) by distinguishing characteristic groups of associated agricultural producer organizations’ participation in agricultural policy making processes, ii) by compiling a scheme of research on the balance of need satisfaction and interest expression of associated agricultural producers, and iii) by forming theory-based battery of interview questions for further qualitative survey was.During analyzing results of research it was found that the implementation of interests based on needs should become a core task for policy makers. In order to do so, it must be ensured that stakeholders’ influential power is balanced, and the needs of all interest groups are appropriately evaluated. The research results show that the assumptions for better opportunities to take agricultural stakeholder needs into consideration when forming and implementing agricultural policy could be strengthened. Conclusions. Research allows systematically gather qualitative data and better substantiates recommendations to politicians and representatives of agricultural producer associations. [From the publication]
