Middle East and North Africa: Egypt – Farmer-to-Farmer Program (FtF)

Using Volunteer Experts to Improve Private Agricultural Operations

ACDI/VOCA is a leader in the use of expert volunteers in international development work. Over the years, we have placed expert volunteers in over 130 developing countries and emerging democracies. Short-term volunteer consultants advise local farmers on technology transfer, quality control, product diversity, business strategy and human resources management, among other agribusiness issues. With the volunteers’ expertise, ACDI/VOCA works to improve the quality and viability of agricultural support institutions and financial institutions that provide much-needed resources to the agricultural sector.

Through the use of these volunteers, ACDI/VOCA is implementing a new, five-year, USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (FtF) program in Egypt and Lebanon. This $7.24 million Middle East and North Africa (MENA) FtF program is being implemented through a consortium with Land O' Lakes and Winrock International. Through FtF, ACDI/VOCA helps strengthen five components of the producer-to-market agricultural system: farm production, post-harvest handling, intermediate and final processing, retail and wholesale sales, and local and regional markets.

FtF Egypt focuses specifically on strengthening the horticulture and dairy industries throughout the country. Through 170 volunteer consultants, ACDI/VOCA is addressing value chain constraints in these industries in order to increase agricultural productivity and profitability. Over the life of the project, ACDI/VOCA will provide technical assistance to 3,780 direct beneficiaries and 27,040 indirect beneficiaries. With a centrally located office in the capital, ACDI/VOCA is well positioned to reach beneficiaries throughout the country, with a focus on Upper Egypt.

Egypt’s agriculture sector employs approximately 34 percent of the country’s labor force and is vital to its export strategy. ACDI/VOCA is working to improve product quality to meet international standards by improving production, handling and export management practices, optimizing the use of existing export infrastructure and integrating small farmers into the horticultural export value chain by building their business and technical capacities to meet market requirements.

Technical assistance focuses on direct technology transfer to agricultural enterprises and organizations. This includes greenhouse production, integrated crop management, sustainable practices and systems, harvest techniques such as field packaging, and storage technology. Another focus of the project is training on market requirements in terms of quality, traceability and food safety protocols. ACDI/VOCA is developing business management skills through our Farming as a Business training curriculum, with an emphasis on crop budgeting, production planning, profitability and simple business analysis techniques. The project is also providing farmers with access to marketing assistance and market intelligence training. Through leveraging existing projects in Egypt, such as the Four Thousand Tons per Day public-private partnership between USAID and the H.J. Heinz Company, FtF Egypt is maximizing industry benefits.

Within the dairy sector, the productivity of domestic cattle and buffalos is low and far below world standards and locally produced milk consumption is still very low compared to world standards. FtF Egypt is therefore focused on increasing income generated from dairy activities by increasing productivity through an extended milking season and improved safety and quality of dairy products. Technologies related to proper feeding, taking into consideration limited feed availability, and better vet and herd management technologies are at the core of ACDI/VOCA’s focus in the dairy industry. FtF Egypt is also working to improve dairy producers’ business management skills to support these production increases. FtF volunteer consultants are addressing management issues through ACDI/VOCA’s Farming as a Business approach and through trainings on financial analysis, business planning, and market information.

For more information, contact Helen Rubeiz at hrubeiz@acdivoca.org.

Updated: 2/09

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