Egypt – Agricultural Exports and Rural Incomes - Horticulture

Empowering Smallholder Growers to Compete in High-End Markets

The Enhanced Livelihoods from Smallholder Horticultural Activities Managed Sustainably (El-Shams) project empowered smallholder horticultural growers with the skills necessary to compete in Egypt's growing high-end domestic and export markets. This was achieved through building the organizational, marketing and technical capabilities of smallholders and farmer associations (FAs) and linking them to market-oriented private sector agribusinesses, regional trade associations and traders, exporters and investors to produce a sizeable, sustainable increase in horticultural exports, domestic sales, local income and agricultural and non-farm jobs.

As a subgrantee to CARE-Egypt on this four-year program, ACDI/VOCA fielded U.S.-based volunteer consultants, led smallholder farmer associations to international trade shows and study tours, and trained elite horticultural government extension agents (HEAs) on high-value crops and post-harvest techniques, marketing skills and sustainable business development. Volunteers provided short-term technical assistance in a variety of horticultural topics, including integrated pest management, improved post-harvest practices, business planning and sustainability, marketing and association strengthening for smallholder horticultural farmer associations.

ACDI/VOCA also organized and led delegations of smallholder farmer association representatives to international and regional trade shows, such as Fruit Logistica in Germany, Salon International de l'Agroalimentaire International (SIAL) in Paris and MacFruit in Italy. While abroad at these events, ACDI/VOCA arranged study tour meetings with exporters, distributors, supermarkets and others to maximize valuable learning as a result of exposure to the international market, including competing products, import/export requirements, packaging and promotion standards, new product innovations, etc. Training to HEAs focused on developing an elite horticultural extension service under the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reform to support the sustainability, competitiveness and growth of smallholder agriculture in Egypt.

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