Farmer-to-Farmer Program Bolsters Cooperative Development in Ethiopia

The Farmer-to-Farmer Program (FtF) began fielding volunteers in Ethiopia in 1994. Since then, the project has made a significant contribution to the development of democratic and voluntary co-ops that are able to compete in the emerging free-market economy. American volunteers have provided curriculum development and training of trainers (ToT) services to the civil service departments responsible for regulating and providing technical assistance to agricultural co-ops.

In 1994, Gene Inglasbe helped the Ministry of Agriculture develop a policy on co-op development. Volunteers who followed refined his ideas and taught ToT courses to 312 co-op promoters. These courses focused on co-op organization and management, bookkeeping and accounting, marketing, credit and finance, and warehouse management. The promoters have since provided training to more than 200,000 co-op farmer-members and assisted in restructuring 1,827 primary co-ops which serve members through the provision of input supplies and marketing of farm commodities.

As a result of training, co-op members now democratically elect their board members without external regulation, an important step forward for Ethiopian co-ops. Additionally, for the first time, co-ops now pay dividends to their members based on the volume of commodities they sell.

ACDI/VOCA used the FtF Program interventions to get co-op development on the right track. As a result of volunteer contributions, Ethiopian agricultural co-ops are now privately owned businesses controlled by their members through democratic governance structures. The success of the FtF Program resulted in the expansion of efforts in Ethiopia through a USAID-funded two-year Cooperative Union Project (CUP) in the Oromia Region, which was then extended to four regions in the five-year Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia project (ACE).

In addition to co-op development, FtF volunteers have made key contributions to other important agricultural institutions. FtF aided the Development Bank of Ethiopia by providing volunteer technical assistance in the computerization of their banking activities. Computer support was also delivered to the Organization for Rural Development in Amhara and the Amhara Credit and Savings Institution, two organizations that provide important services to smallholder farmers in Amhara. Another key assignment provided farm management systems development to the Africa Village Academy, a local NGO that provides on-farm training and business skill development. Since 1994, the Ethiopian agricultural sector has made major strides, improving the lives of countless farmers dependent on agrarian success. Much of this progress is directly attributable to ACDI/VOCA’s FtF program and its committed volunteers.