Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

The Agriculture and Food Security team held a session at the Partners of the Americas 50th Anniversary Convention highlighting the long history in these program areas. Since it was founded in 1964, Partners has implemented diverse projects and carried out activities that increase agricultural production, improve post-harvest handling, develop new products, strengthen agribusiness and cooperatives, increase sales and income, protect natural resources, and improve food security. As part of our session, we presented a timeline highlighting news articles, social media, publications, historical photos, and other information showcasing our history. Timeline of Activities

Partners' Agriculture and Food Security unit has a new Twitter handle! Follow @PartnersAgFood for updates on the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, as well as our Haiti Nutrition Security Program and other stories. Be the first to know when Partners programs are in the news or when there is a new story posted on this blog. The team also live-tweets agriculture, food security, and natural resource management events to keep you informed of what is happening if you cannot attend. And finally, we share stories and links from other organizations in the field to help you stay up-to-date on key issues. Follow us today!  @PartnersAgFood

On his most recent F2F trip to Jamaica, volunteer Tom Hebert spent a Sunday afternoon working with the Robin's Bay Bee Club, the island's first children's beekeeping club. The main item on the agenda was a presentation about beekeeping around the world. Tom wanted the children to see how beekeeping can differ greatly from one country to the next and how it can also  share some commonalities. Halfway through the presentation, the children wanted to do some hands on activities so they went outside to help Tom assemble materials for making a top bar hive from banana leaves. Once the kids went back inside, they drew some pictures of bees. Enjoy some of their creations below!  Taking a break Collecting banana ribs Tom looking over some of the artwork

Partners’ Farmer-to-Farmer program supports organic banana producers in addressing one of their biggest challenges: the disposal of the plastic bags used to protect the bananas from disease and pests during the growing process. Melissa Kono, a plastic recycling and processing specialist, recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to address this problem. Below are excerpts from her trip report: Plastic protects bananas from disease and pests as they develop Assignment Overview and Observations: The Dominican Republic is the main exporter of organic bananas in the world. This emphasis on organic and fair trade bananas has encouraged the industry to strengthen environmentally conscience production methods and further address recycling efforts in banana production. I volunteered with USAID’s Farmer-to-Farmer Program from June 29 through July 12, 2014 in the banana producing region of the Dominican Republic to analyze the use of plastics in the banana industry and addr