December 13, 2007

H.J. Heinz Company Partners with USAID, Government of Egypt and ACDI/VOCA Under New GDA

On December 13, the H.J. Heinz Company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), ACDI/VOCA, and the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. The MOU formalizes a new public-private alliance among the parties to develop Egypt’s process tomato and other value-added horticulture supply chains. The upcoming five-year program, to be implemented by ACDI/VOCA, will invest in the vast but largely unrealized potential of thousands of Upper Egypt’s small farmers to meet modern market demands for product quality and quantity.

At the afternoon ceremony at the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in Dokki, Cairo, Egyptian Minister of Agriculture Amin Abazza, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., USAID/Egypt Mission Director Hilda “Bambi” Arellano, Heinz Manager of Global Agricultural Technology Gary King, ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard, ACDI/VOCA-Egypt Country Representative Douglas Anderson joined to execute the MOU.

It establishes a Global Development Alliance (GDA), a USAID development tool that brings together the public sector, private sector and nongovernmental organizations in support of shared objectives. The GDA initiative formalized at Thursday’s ceremony has been dubbed the “Four Thousand Tons per Day” program, in reference to smallholder production targets and the expanded daily processing capacity of local plants owned by Heinz and its affiliates. The program’s primary objective is to contribute to sustainable rural development by enhancing the capacity of smallholder farmers to profitably produce and deliver quality process tomatoes, and then extending this capacity to other high-value crops.

Over the course of 5 years, the alliance will establish good agricultural practices that meet Heinz’s rigorous standards; organize, train and support over 8,000 smallholder farmers; and facilitate the purchases of process tomatoes and other high-value crops by building sustainable supplier relationships.

To learn more about ACDI/VOCA's work in Egypt, click here.