Our Work

Printer Friendly  |  Send this Page

Central Asia – Farmer-to-Farmer Program (FtF)

Sharing Volunteers' Expertise with Smallholders


The USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (FtF) program is a worldwide initiative that seeks to develop and increase the sustainability of private agricultural enterprises and support organizations as well as rural finance organizations. U.S. volunteers provide technical assistance to farmers, farm groups, agribusinesses and rural credit organizations in ten developing and transitional countries in Eurasia and eastern Africa.


ACDI/VOCA works in partnership with Winrock, from which it received a subgrant to implement the Central Asia FtF program in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. ACDI/VOCA’s work

  • increases the sustainability of private agribusiness through improved technologies and business management practices
  • develops the capacity of farmer associations, cooperatives and business support organizations to achieve sustainable service delivery and advocacy
  • strengthens the rural finance system to provide credit and other service to agricultural enterprises
  • develops and disseminates best practices for volunteer technical assistance

To date, ACDI/VOCA has fielded 182 volunteer consultants to provide direct technical assistance to over 171 host organizations, benefiting over 4,029 individuals in Central Asia. Short-term volunteers have

  • offered guidance and follow-up support on implementing strategic marketing and tactical work plans
  • audited the completion of recommendations by host organizations and adjusted the recommended action items as needed
  • determined the feasibility of and assisted the product development work group to further develop a consumer loan test pilot product for a microfinance institution
  • introduced new technical methods to conduct market research through management information systems (MIS)
  • set up an in-house credit scoring system for a microfinance institution through MIS
  • provided technical assistance to a fruit drying cooperative to development its business opportunities

    • In addition to its work in Central Asia, ACDI/VOCA currently works as the prime implementer of FtF programs in Russia, the Caucasus republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and East Africa (Kenya and Uganda). ACDI/VOCA also works in Ethiopia and Eritrea, under its partner, Virginia State University, which is the program’s prime implementer.


    For more information, contact Thelonious Trimmel at ttrimmel@acdivoca.org.


    Updated: 1/08


    PDF version of profile (469 KB)