Farmer-to-Farmer Uses Volunteer Experts to Strengthen Private Agricultural Operations
ACDI/VOCA implemented a five-year, USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. ACDI/VOCA was a lead implementer of F2F, and placed expert volunteers in over 120 emerging-market and developing countries.
F2F works to improve the quality and viability of agricultural support institutions and financial institutions that provide much-needed resources to the agricultural sector. In a consortium with Land O’ Lakes and Winrock International, ACDI/VOCA focused on strengthening five components of the producer-to-market agricultural system in Jordan and other countries in the MENA region: farm production, post-harvest handling, intermediate and final processing, retail and wholesale sales and local and regional markets.
Short-term F2F volunteer consultants advised local farmers on technology transfer, quality control, product diversity, business strategy and human resources management, among other agribusiness issues.
F2F MENA provided volunteers to our core program countries of Egypt and Lebanon, and also provided support to other regional countries, including Jordan and Morocco, where the consortium fielded highly qualified volunteers to support the agricultural development activities of the Jordan Badia Research Development Center and Hashemite Fund for Development.
The consortium completed 338 volunteer assignments in two core country programs—Egypt and Lebanon—with flexible assignments conducted in these core countries and other regional countries. In its fifth year, the MENA F2F program fielded at least of 74 volunteer assignments through the consortium. The program provided technical assistance in the horticulture, dairy/livestock and flexible focus areas, completing at least 36 volunteer assignments in Egypt and at least 20 volunteer assignments in Lebanon. An additional 18 flexible assignments were completed in the MENA region including in Morocco and Tunisia.
