Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

By F2F Volunteer Felice Maciejewski The last few days at Banelino were spent reviewing the existing material in the library and weeding material that did not meet the collection development criteria that I had developed. Once I was done with reviewing the material,  I created several sections including: Reference, agricultural science, fair-trade and organic, Dominicano, and student/education. Because Banelino disseminates many public-service type handouts to the Banelino community I also created a handouts section.  On Friday, I will be reviewing all of my recommendations to get the library up and running, with the Banelino staff. This is an exciting project that will have a wonderful impact on the Banelino community. The Banelino Library "stacks" On Thursday we drove to the Banelino headquarters in Montecristi. Banana producers and workers, Banelino staff, and family members were invited to a training session that I had prepared on finding the right and reliable i...

by F2F Volunteer Andy Lohof Source: FAOSTAT According to the World Bank, per capita income in Haiti is only $810, the lowest in the Americas. In the late 1700s, Haiti produced half of the world’s coffee. In 1949, Haiti was the third largest coffee exporter. But as shown in the graph, exports have declined significantly. In 2012, Haiti was not even among the top 35 coffee producers as tracked by the International Coffee Organization. In December 2014, I traveled to Northern Haiti in collaboration with Partners of the Americas and Makouti to strengthen coffee cooperatives. Having worked with cooperatives in other countries, I have seen the positive impact they can have on smallholder farmers. By pooling their resources and organizing cooperatives, smallholder coffee farmers are better able to access financing, obtain technical assistance on improved farming practices, and sell their product at higher prices. In field visits to 7 Haitian cooperatives, Makouti coffee specia...

F2F volunteers Femke Oldham & Matt Freiberg are currently in Colombia on a flex assignment. Here they share some of their experiences so far from their trip: We are stationed in the archip elago of San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina Islands in the western Caribbean. These islands are Colombian territory; however, they represent a melting pot of Latin American and Caribbean cultures. We are working with the native island community, called the Raizal, who are descendants of African slaves brought over by European settlers about 200 years ago. The primary language of the Raizal is a type of creole, and most people also speak Spanish and Standard English. F2F volunteers, Femke Oldham and Matt Freiberg on the "Peak" We completed a Farmer-to-Farmer assignment in 2013 on San Andres Island, where we worked with an association of posadas nativas (native-run inns) to improve food and water security through rainwater harvesting system expansion and organi...

One of Banelino's goals is to have a working library for the use of the Banelino staff, banana producers, laborers, and family members. I have been taking an inventory of material in the library and have weeded a substantial amount of material that is not appropriate to the mission of this library. Last Friday was payday for the producers and laborers. Banelino's offices were busy with processing the payments to the producers. I took the opportunity to visit with some of the producers and laborers who were waiting their turn to pick up their checks. Many were women producers, some came with their children, and others were Haitian laborers. Talking with them, I learned what their idea was of a library. (Keep in mind, three times last week I passed by the National Library branch in Mao (at different times) and each time it was closed, no signs posted on when it would be open. It is fair to say that there is no public library available to the residents in Mao region.) Most of...

This week, Partners of the Americas joins people around the world in remembering the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12th, 2010. Our goal is to commemorate the event and give our readers some insight into the situation in Haiti. Partners' Farmer-to-Farmer Program was very active in Haiti in 2010 and we had a number of volunteers in-country during the tragedy. Thankfully, our volunteers and staff were safe and although Partners is not a relief organization, we did what we could to help - sending trauma counselors, using donations to help supply medicines, mobilizing farmers to provide food for the needy, arranging housing for people near hospitals, and more. Today, 5 years later, there is cause to be hopeful but we also want to recognize that Haiti is still facing many challenges.We asked Yves-Laurent Regis, the Deputy Director of our Haiti Nutrition Security Program , to share some observations about the state of Haiti and positive changes he has seen in the year...

My F2F colleague, Maulio Soto and I, arrived in Mao, Valverde on Tuesday evening. The drive from Santo Domingo to Mao is a long one, but the views are beautiful. Early Wednesday morning we arrived at the Banelino headquarters in Mao. I spent the morning visiting the headquarters and learning about the Banelino operations. A non-profit cooperative, founded in the mid-90's by several small banana producers from the Mao and Montecristi banana producing regions, Banelino is now a cooperative of over 400 members. About 25% of the members are women and a large percentage of members are small producers working on about 4.5 hectares-size farms. Banelino's members' banana farms are fair trade and organic. On Wednesday afternoon, I visited two banana farms that were in the process of packing the bananas. Banelino producers take pride in the quality of their bananas and their buyers have very high standards as well. The selection process of the banana sent abroad is intense. The lar...

Partners Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers have been out working all over Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to improve agricultural production, processing, marketing, and environmental management. Below are some photos from the field... In Guatemala, F2F volunteer Ralph Bucca worked on building solar dryers for mushrooms and other crops. He also provided training in handling, packaging, and marketing. The solar dryers varied in size - small ones for home or small business production and larger ones for mid-size groups. F2F volunteers Allen Mensick and Randy Shumaker worked with goat producers in Haiti on developing innovative ways to improve and expand production and increases access to markets. Their last day in Haiti was spent with agronomy students and farmers in the classroom with a training that included sharing a Rotary International video made for dairy goat production. In the Dominican Republic, F2F volunteer Dave Lombardo was part of a team...

I am so happy to be back in the Dominican Republic to start a new F2F assignment.  This time unfortunately,  I will be on my own, as my colleague Valerie is unable to make it. My assignment is to help the banana producers of the cooperative Banelino, located in Mao, Valverde, find appropriate information to better inform themselves on climate change, banana and rice cultivation, and water management. I will also spend time in the Banelino library working on better organization and access for the library material. It is my understanding that we will also explore ways of integrating information on multi-generational levels. Tomorrow, I will meet with the F2F staff and the REDDOM group to set our agenda for Banelino. ¡Hasta la proxima! Felice Maciejewski, University Librarian, Dominican University