February 22, 2007
ACDI/VOCA Prominent at Farmer-to-Farmer Workshop
ACDI/VOCA was a prominent participant at the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (FtF) implementers workshop in Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 19-22. Cairo was chosen as the location so that the former ACDI/VOCA FtF Egypt program could be showcased.
Other attending implementers included Winrock International, Land O’Lakes, CNFA, Partners of the Americas and several minority-serving universities. This was a golden opportunity for USAID and implementers’ staff to meet and discuss the attributes, challenges and opportunities of the FtF Program.
A participatory format developed by facilitators from Training Resource Group enabled the implementers to draw out and synthesize their FtF knowledge in such a way as to strengthen existing and future programs. The agenda featured a range of development topics including the effective use of volunteer consultants as a development tool, increasing volunteer outreach at home, the Global Development Alliance, value chain analysis, organizing and managing farmer groups, characteristics of good local partners and hosts, and writing good statements of work. There was also an interactive session on monitoring and evaluation.
The workshop tapped the prominent legacy left by ACDI/VOCA’s FtF Egypt program, which operated 1987-1996. Local ACDI/VOCA staff presented an Egypt case study, which was honored with a standing ovation.
Conference participants observed project impact for themselves on three field visits, including visiting Technogreen, a company which owes much of its success to FtF technical assistance. Technogreen is a leading Egyptian producer and exporter of fresh produce. With almost 20 years’ experience in selling to local and international markets, the company has built an outstanding reputation of supplying healthy and nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables, all of which are developed in an evironmentally sustainable manner. FtF provided Technogreen with assistance in several areas, including growing strawberries and tomatoes, building greenhouses and developing fertigation from 1993 until 1996. In addition, the project enabled a local strawberry farm manager to participate in an FtF study tour in the U.S. Upon his return, he used the techniques learned on the tour to increase productivity by an estimated by 25-30 percent.
ACDI/VOCA’s FtF program supported increased investment, productivity and income in nearly half of Egypt’s governorates and contributed markedly to the expansion of the country’s agricultural sector. It provided technical assistance to farmers and extension agents in farm management, production and post-harvest handling covering a wide variety of products including fruits, vegetables, livestock and dairy products, and honey. It targeted a core of 600 lead farmers, mainly in the Nile Delta and newly reclaimed desert areas, who in turn transferred their technical knowledge to 12,000 neighboring farmers.
These activities laid the foundation for a host of future USAID-funded agriculture development programs: the Marketing Information Project, Agriculture Linkages for Egypt Project (AgLink), Dairy Directive Project and Agricultural Exports and Rural Incomes Project. Over the years, these efforts have significantly enhanced the productivity and quality of Egyptian agriculture.
"Farmer-to-Farmer has accomplished so much over the years. And we musn't forget the impact on the American volunteers who generously gave of their talents and who now are not only invested in their Egyptian counterparts' success but also better disposed toward this proven method of foreign assistance," said Thelonious Trimmell, ACDI/VOCA's Director for the Latin America & Caribbean Portfolio and the VOCA Foundation’s FtF programs.