Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

2014 has been a productive year for Partners' Agriculture and Food Security (AFS) Unit! Under the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program, 78 volunteers traveled to eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to work with close to 40 producer groups, NGOs, universities, and other hosts. They provided training in areas as diverse as business plan development, honey harvesting, animal nutrition, marketing of organic products, and much more, and directly assisted over 6,000 people. Partners' Haiti Nutrition Security Program, funded by USAID/Haiti as part of their Feed the Future Initiative, has recruited and is providing support to 1,548 Mother Leaders who have been organized into 144 Care Groups. Each Mother Leader is then responsible for leading local neighborhood women’s clubs, through which nutrition counseling and promotional support are provided to an additional 13,898 young pregnant and lactating mothers of children under the age of five. As a result, the proje...

Happy Holidays! During this season, we would like to take a moment to thank all of the dedicated volunteers, field staff, program collaborators, host organizations, funders and other supporters who have made the Partners of the Americas' Farmer-to-Farmer Program and the Haiti Nutrition Security Programs a success in 2014. Thank you and best wishes for 2015!   - the Agriculture and Food Security Team

Katherine Wingert, attending the  cheese fair in Managua. By Katherine Wingert Rising rates of soda and junk food consumption are commonplace in developing countries, and Nicaragua is no exception. While Nicaragua produces more dairy than any other country in Central America, Nicaraguan dairy consumption levels are very low. Some estimates put soda consumption at five times that of milk! With obesity on the rise in Nicaragua, particularly in the capital city of Managua, there is an increasing need for interventions to change dietary habits before they become an overwhelming burden. With this in mind, the Nicaraguan Dairy Sector Chamber ( CANISLAC),  with the support of Farmer-to-Farmer, is working on a new yogurt and milk consumption campaign that is geared toward promoting consumption in adolescents and mothers of young children. Because of my background in public health and behavior change, I was invited to spend three weeks with CANISLAC in October to support t...

Between July and December 2014, the Farmer-to-Farmer program in Guatemala had nine F2F volunteers build technical capacity in food safety, GAP certification, business and organizational development, artificial goat insemination, organic agricultural production, and many other topics. They look forward to what next year's volunteers will bring!

This blog post was written by Dan Krull who is currently in Haiti serving as an F2F volunteer in improved goat production. This is Mr. Krull's first F2F assignment. A typical leash-pastured goat in a small village. "Haiti is a diverse country with bright agricultural prospects. Many Haitians raise livestock, including goats [...] Goats are a vital source for protein, and as such, they fetch a good price at the market. They are also relatively hardy and can thrive in conditions that would be too stressful for other animals. You would think in the lush tropical landscape that is Haiti, the goats here would be fat and happy. On the contrary, many of them are thin and severely under conditioned. In addition, some are dying, quite suddenly, with little or no warning. I recently traveled to Haiti to find out why and to implement practices designed to minimize the frequency at which it happens in the future. With the help of F2F Haiti Country Coordinator Benito Jasmin and...

   Photo taken by F2F volunteer (Nov. 2014): Fallen banana trees after a severe wind storm As the Conference on Climate Change in Lima comes to an end, Secretary John Kerry urged the world to think about the economic impacts of climate change on agriculture. He reports that the changing climate will reduce the production capacity of crops such as rice, maize, or wheat by two percent each decade. (See remarks  here ). This means millions of farmers around the world may face greater threats of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. However, Kerry notes, “ there is still time for us to come together as a global community . . . and every nation has a responsibility to do its part if we’re going to pass this test. ”    Photo taken by F2F volunteer (Nov. 2014): Flooding in Montecristi Partners of the Americas’ Farmer-to-Farmer program is taking strides to take this to heart in the Dominican Republic.  As a small island, the Dominican Republic is e...

Worm box used to raise black soldier fly larva and worms Let’s say you wanted to help rural farmers improve their food security by raising chickens and producing eggs, but the high cost of chicken feed would create dependency on outside vendors and limits profits. What if you could reduce feed cost, improve the chickens’ diet, and support locally sustainable systems? Partners' Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer, Patryk Battle, spent two weeks in Haiti in September to demonstrate how plant waste, grazing, raising black soldier fly larva, and vermiculture could do just this. Patryk worked with Royal Palm, a local organization that has a pilot demonstration plot and egg production site in Haiti. Due to the high cost of chicken feed, Royal Palm has sought technical assistance in identifying alternative chicken feed systems. These  alternative chicken feed systems  could not only enable farmers to generate more income, but also provide an environmentally sustainable solution to r...

International Volunteer Day, started in 1985 by the United Nations, is an opportunity to celebrate all those who volunteer their time to make a difference in the world. Partners' Farmer-to-Farmer Program would like to thank all the excellent volunteers who have traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean to work with their counterparts to address agricultural and environmental issues. Changes and innovations have been made in a wide variety of technical areas, sales and income have increased, and natural resource management has improved. Giving your time has made a difference in the hemisphere! And we thank you. If you are interested in volunteering with the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, you can see open assignments here:  http://www.partners.net/partners/Volunteering.asp !

A big thank you to Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer, Wayne Burleson, for putting together this video on his recent assignment to teach organic input production in Guatemala! Enjoy!