By embracing disability inclusion as part of their core strategies, Agribility is playing a fundamental role in the inclusion of farmers with disabilities. We identified three types of barriers faced by persons with disabilities to their inclusion in farming activities. From the perspective of the Social Model of Disability, we categorised these barriers into systemic, attitudinal and environmental.
Systemic barriers
Systemic barriers are procedures, policies and practices that do not take farmers with disabilities into account and therefore exclude them from effective and equitable participation in value chain activities. Broadly, these barriers include the lack of consideration of disability inclusion in agricultural activities by agribusinesses but also government (e.g. through agricultural extension programmes), and the design of policies that exclude farmers with disabilities. For instance, policies discriminate against people with disabilities, and often restrict them from accessing loans and opening bank accounts. Systemic barriers exist in part because agriculture is not always seen by organisations as an economic activity for persons with disabilities but also because many institutions, such as those providing financial services, do not trust persons with disabilities or have requirements that persons with disabilities cannot often attain (e.g. formal identification). As a result, programmes are often in inaccessible formats forcing farmers with disabilities to rely on others.
Attitudinal barriers
Attitudinal barriers are behaviours, perceptions or actions from communities or organisations that discriminate against farmers with disabilities. Specifically, we learned that in commercial relationships, lack of disability awareness creates several challenges for persons with disabilities. Their peers and communities do not know how to communicate with them and are not disability aware, making it difficult for farmers with disabilities to bargain and sell their products. Time and again, there is wide discrimination and stigma towards persons with disabilities as many people think that agriculture is not right for them, and there are still widely spread prejudices including the idea that farmers with disabilities produce lower quality products.
Environmental barriers
Finally, environmental barriers are characteristics of infrastructure (physical or digital) and tools that prevent persons with disabilities to participate in agricultural activities. Examples include the lack of accessible physical infrastructure for training, transporting, storing and marketing agricultural products, and of adapted tools for sowing, harvesting or performing other farming activities. Environmental barriers also include barriers to digital inclusion of farmers with disabilities