Overview
USAID’s John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program provides for the transfer of knowledge and expertise from U. S. volunteers to farmers, farm groups, and agribusinesses in developing and transitional countries.
The program relies on the expertise of volunteers from U.S. farms, land grant universities, cooperatives, private agribusinesses, and nonprofit farm organizations to respond to the local needs of host-country farmers and organizations. Volunteers are recruited from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In general, these volunteers are not overseas development professionals, but rather individuals who have domestic careers, farms, and agribusinesses, or are retired persons who want to participate in development efforts. Typically volunteers spend about 20 to 30 days in the host country.
Program evaluations have consistently found that the program provides high quality services from volunteers, leveraging over $34 million worth of volunteer time contributions to development efforts. Approximately one million farmer families (representing about five million people) have been direct beneficiaries of the FTF Program. Volunteers help host individuals and organizations build local institutions and linkages to resolve local problems and have provided direct hands-on training to over 80,000 people. Since program initiation, over 12,000 volunteer assignments have been completed in over 80 countries. Approximately 19% of all volunteers are women and about 39% of all individuals trained by FTF volunteers are women. [1]
The Farmer-to-Farmer Program was initially funded in 1985 under title V of Public Law 480 of the US Farm Bill. The U.S. Congress authorized the current FY 2009-2013 phase of the FTF Program in the 2008 Farm Bill, designating it the "John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter FTF Program" in honor of one of the pilots killed September 11, 2001 and of former Congressman Bereuter, who initially sponsored the program.[2]
The Farmer to Farmer Program was reauthorized in the current Farm Bill, known as the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.
Current Program
In September 2008, the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed cooperative agreements with 3 institutions for the provision of FTF Program volunteer services for international agricultural development. From 2008 to 2013, the program will operate in approximately 19 core countries, providing nearly 3,000 volunteer technical assistance assignments averaging three and a half weeks duration. The four Farmer to Farmer Program implementing organizations will work closely with overseas USAID Missions and partner organizations, supporting a variety of development programs aimed at reducing poverty and stimulating sustainable and broad-based economic growth.
Current Awards for FY2009-2013:
- West Africa - ACDI/VOCA
- Middle East & North Africa - ACDI/VOCA
- Caribbean Basin - Partners of the Americas
- East Africa - Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA )
- Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia - Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA)
- Southern Africa - Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA)
- Special Programs and Support - Weidemann Associates
The 2008 Farm Bill designed the following countries as eligible for Farmer to Farmer Programs:
- Caribbean Basin: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago
- East Africa: Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Comoros, Djibouti, Seychelles, Sudan
- Southern Africa: Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Swaziland
- West Africa: Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Togo
- Asia: Bangladesh, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Afghanistan
- Middle East & North Africa: Jordan, Morocco, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, West Bank/Gaza
- Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan
- Latin America: Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Brazil
External links
[USAID Farmer to Farmer Program]http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/agriculture/farmer_to_farmer.htm
[CNFA]http://www.cnfa.org/farmertofarmer
[Partners]http://www.partners.net/partners/Overview2_EN.asp?SnID=29365280
[ACDI/VOCA]http://www.acdivoca.org/852571DC00681414/ID/ourwork_projectprofiles
[Weidemann Associates, Inc.]http://weidemann.org/Projects.aspx