Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Volunteers are the Farmer to Farmer Program's best resources. Here you see Benito Jasmin, agribusiness leader and Partners of the Americas' Haiti FTF Coordinator (sporting the Partners' FTF T-shirt!) and FTF volunteer Myriam Kaplan-Pasternak in Argentina, where they recently attended a World Rabbit Science Association conference. Thanks to Myriam's fundraising, Benito was able to travel to Argentina and attend the conference, as well as spend time with with Apitrack and prominent queen bee raisers in Argentina. Thank you Myriam for offering training and exposure to Haitian agribusiness leaders and trainers, in Haiti and in Argentina!

Texas A&M University - Kingsville recently published a news article about Steven Lukefahr's Farmer to Farmer trip to Haiti. Dr. Lukefahr is an expert in rabbit production and genetics and has traveled around the world to assist rabbit producers. Click here to read about his trip.

FTF Volunteers Cheryl Diermyer and Lauren Rosen use creative means to collect footage of available dairy products in Nicaragua Other potential captions for this photo include: Was this activity outlined in my Farmer to Farmer volunteer assignment scope of work? "Bananas - check. Salad - check. Woman with camera - check...?" This is much more entertaining than my desk job Read more about their unique assignment here and here .

From dairy cattle and bees to extension education and product development, Partners' Farmer to Farmer Program currently has several open volunteer opportunities in Nicaragua, Haiti, Guyana, and the Dominican Republic. The program covers costs for transportation, lodging, meals and other travel-related costs. Volunteers for Nicaragua and the DR will ideally have some proficiency in Spanish. Contact us today if you have any questions! In the words of recent FTF volunteers: "I look forward to hearing from the friends I made in Guyana whether the message is of a technical nature or just a hello. My Farmer to Farmer experience was a positive one due to the friendship shown to me by Shaun Francis, Kelvin Craig as well as every Ministry of Agriculture official and grower I met." - Dan Egel, Guyana "My volunteer assignment was a rewarding personal experience. Rafael and Juan were very accommodating and handled any issues that came up." -Rhett Farrell, FTF DR

Benito and "Little Benito" As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." But this picture represents much more than words to this little boy and to the staff and volunteers of Partners' Farmer to Farmer Program. In this photo, pictured are Benito Jasmin, FTF Haiti Country Coordinator, and the child of one of the farmers who receives training through the Farmer to Farmer Program in Haiti. The boy's school fees are paid with the income his family receives from raising rabbits. So what is that worth? In Benito's words, his whole life depends on it. In Haiti, the vast majority of schools (around 92%) are private and children cannot go to school unless they pay the required fees. With the poverty that is so rampant in Haiti, this means that nearly the majority of children are not enrolled in school. As written in a July 2010 report from the US Institute of Peace ,  "According to the 2002–03 education census cited by the World Bank

Farmer to Farmer volunteers, Cheryl and Lauren, continue to work hard to put together a video clip that promotes the consumption of local dairy products and educates the audience on nutrition. The volunteers are interviewing farmers, dairy cooperative managers, school teachers and others to truly capture the local situation and best attract the viewers. Meanwhile, another Farmer to Farmer volunteer, Kshinte continues to visit schools and support the "Si a la Leche" campaign with educational games and promotional activities. Please see below the volunteers "in action" photos. Lauren, Cheryl and Daniel (FTF field officer) edit through the videos to put together a great promotional piece. Thanks to the volunteers for their filming and editing equipment! Kshinte and the Director of the Solingalpa School in Matalgalpa work together to support the dairy campaign and educate the students on nutrition. 

Kshinte teaches children about nutrition in milk Earlier this week, two volunteers traveled from Wisconsin to Nicaragua to fill a "non-traditional" Farmer to Farmer assignment: video production. They are collaborating with another volunteer focusing on nutrition. In case you're wondering what video production has to do with farming, read on. Even though Nicaragua is the country in the region of Central America with the most exports of dairy products, generally has the biggest cattle, and the most land potential to raise cattle, it is still the country that consumes the least amount of dairy products. According to official information the annual local consumption of milk is 75 liters/person in contrast to 220 liters/person in Costa Rica. In the urban and rural sectors of Nicaragua there has been a decrease in the consumption of dairy products. Nicaraguans have changed their habits and now consume more sodas which do not have the same nutritional qualities as dairy

Identifying forage for rabbits in Dourmond Partners of the Americas' small animal project in Haiti is growing rapidly, and many communities in Central and Southern Haiti now have the beginnings of a successful micro-enterprise. Below is the example of Dourmond, one of the most recent communities to receive rabbits. I expect that it won't be long before we begin hearing their stories as we do in other communities, where Haitians young and old are able to pay for their education through their profits from rabbit production. I hope to share some of those stories in later posts. New rabbit cages arrive Even though rabbits may "breed like rabbits," a new project takes time and strategic thought. The project in Dourmond began in January 2009 with a feasibility study conducted by three individuals who are, collectively, leaders in Partners' Haiti Farmer to Farmer Program, Makouti Agro Enterprise, Devils Gulch Educational Services , and the Patricia Sullivan