This October, I had the opportunity to leave my post here at Agrilinks to do a volunteer consulting assignment helping develop the next phase of Winrock’s Farmer-to-Farmer program in Senegal. Having worked in international development across the African continent for 15 years, this was among the most satisfying assignments I’ve completed. That’s not just because it meant tasting such local delights as baobab juice, dried mangos, hibiscus jam and millet couscous, but also because of the exciting opportunities I saw among the hard-working entrepreneurs working to capitalize on Senegal’s agricultural riches.

The USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program provides volunteer technical assistance to farmers, agribusinesses, and education and extension providers in developing countries to promote sustainable improvements in the agricultural sector. Since 1991, Winrock volunteers have completed over 5,400 assignments in 58 countries. Winrock’s West Africa F2F Program leverages the expertise of skilled volunteers to strengthen agricultural institutions in the region, thus equipping a new generation of agriculture educators, technicians, farmers and agribusinesses to address evolving agricultural sector challenges.

My assignment was to help Winrock build its next phase of F2F to incorporate assistance to the postharvest sector in Senegal, interviewing stakeholders to understand priorities for volunteer technical assistance in this sector and working with Winrock’s local team to develop its country strategy.

Food Processing in Senegal: A Boom Market

Senegal enjoys a competitive advantage in many agricultural sectors, including horticulture, fish and peanuts, on the domestic, subregional and international markets. While most of these agricultural products are consumed locally or exported without value added, the food processing sector is on the rise in Senegal, with an estimated 750,000 direct jobs and 3.2 million indirect jobs. Moreover, an estimated 80 percent of these jobs are held by women, who dominate the cottage industry.

As we discovered firsthand, the agro-processing industry in Senegal is diverse and dynamic, with businesses operating at many levels of operation and capacity. Some businesses are still pounding out products by hand, while other more sophisticated operations are doing brisk business with Senegalese expats in Europe or in the US, who are hungry for a taste of home. We met with well over 30 groups and partners both in the capital, Dakar, and in the field, and while we heard about many constraints and barriers — like no access to affordable, appropriate finance and lack of availability of raw materials — we saw as much success and opportunity.

A few promising opportunities of note:

• A dynamic market with strong demand. Senegal enjoys a dynamic market for local processing, with lots of opportunities domestically, in the sub-region and abroad. Despite very little formal marketing, most businesses have little difficulty attracting clients and making sales.
• A sector dominated by women. Processing is almost exclusively the domain of women, helping achieve not only strategic objectives of food security, poverty reduction and nutrition, but also women’s economic empowerment.
• Growing consumer awareness. Anecdotally, I heard much consumer awareness and acceptance for natural products and the advantages of “buying local.” For example, natural juices are becoming a popular substitute for sugary sodas, while consumers also are increasingly seeking out products like moringa powder to add nutritional value to their diets.
• Win-win market opportunities. For example, there is an improved flour for which at least 15 percent of the imported wheat has been replaced with local cereals. The product is improving nutrition and providing a new market opportunity for local cereal processors, while also decreasing the cost of flour for bakeries and, in turn, bread for consumers.
• Nascent online sales channels. While still a small portion of processed food sales, enterprising vendors are beginning to capitalize on digital marketing tools to sell online sales. Sooretul and made-in-senegal.org, for example, offer online sales with door-to-door delivery for natural Senegalese products. Others are using Facebook and Whatsapp to market their products and attract clients.

Often we in development focus on the constraints; it’s natural, as it’s our job as practitioners and policymakers to identify and find ways to overcome challenges. Senegal’s post-harvest stakeholders face many obstacles, to be sure — packaging woes, a lack of product innovation and low levels of literacy, let alone business management skills — but I left Senegal feeling optimistic about the opportunities it faces in the post-harvest sector.

I was struck by the personal stories I heard of Senegalese women using food processing to fight for a better life. Take for example COFLEC, a group of women fighting illegal emigration. Having lost their sons to risky clandestine sea voyages to Europe, these women sought to create economic opportunities like food processing so youth would have a reason to remain in Senegal. Or the young entrepreneur I met in Kaolack, who started her own business with $50  and not much else. She developed innovative upcycled products through techniques she learned via YouTube and was beginning to market other women’s food products online in a town where few were selling anywhere but the local fairs and markets.

Call me a dreamer, but I look forward to the day when the sweet-tart flavor of baobab fruit will be as ubiquitous as orange juice here in the U.S. Baobab is still relatively unknown to the Western markets but offers more vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than bananas, more antioxidants than blueberries and more calcium than milk. If programs like F2F can help unleash the tenacity and ingenuity of Senegal’s food processors, fueling their businesses with new techniques and skills, as well as access to finance and markets, big trees like the baobab dotting the landscape can help fight big issues like poverty and malnutrition.  

This blog originally appeared on Agrilinks.org 

October 16th is World Food Day, a day to promote awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and a lack of food security. Through USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program, Winrock volunteers are helping contribute to #ZeroHunger by sharing their expertise in sustainable agriculture methods and post-harvest loss reduction. Their efforts help smallholders increase productivity and income, empower themselves by forming cooperatives, and increase resiliency by diversifying the products they are able to sell. Continue reading to learn about a recent success story that embodies the efforts behind World Food Day and #ZeroHunger. 

There are more than 400 mango varieties mangos in the world, and Myanmar is home to over 190 varieties with a distinct taste, color, and shape. In 2016, one F2F volunteer evaluated 132 varieties from four regions of Myanmar, 19 of which were determined to have commercial potential. Farmers in the Mandalay Mango Farmer Group subsequently received technical training from two F2F volunteers, Mr. Brian Flanagan, and Dr. Martin Lo, on improved post-harvest handling and processing techniques and food safety standards.

The many mango varieties of Burma

Mr. Flanagan introduced easy-to-adopt integrated pest and disease management strategies and orchard management practices to improve profitability and market access. Since the training, mango farmers are using coated paper bags to pack fruits on trees to protect them from fruit flies and are pruning branches that show signs of disease or damage. Farmers are not using any pesticides when packing the fruits with paper or plastic bags. U Win Min Than and U Tin Aye, two mango farmers, have been able to decrease annual production costs, by over $400 and by over $850 per year, respectively, due to reduced pesticide use and better pruning practices. U Win Min Than states, “I could reduce costs using pesticides for mangos and follow the pruning steps. Since I don’t need to use a lot of pesticides, it becomes less costly.” 

Mr. Flanagan also demonstrated simple, low-cost technologies to enhance the quality of value-added mango products. Ma Nyein explains, “During the training, the volunteer recommended very applicable and affordable post-harvest handling and processing practices like using a solar dryer to dry the mango to improve food safety issues and the quality of mango leather.” The solar dryers are made using locally-available materials, consisting of a steel pot and solar plastic. Based on the training, farmers are now transferring the leather to drying racks as opposed drying them on the ground. Ma Nyein explains that farmers are also getting better prices for their products, “Before the training, one viss of mango leather was 1,000 MMK. Now, one viss is 3,000 MMK by following some post-harvest handling and processing practices including drying practices that were provided by the volunteer to improve the quality of mango leather and dry mango. Therefore, farmers who make mango leather are getting good incomes, including me.”

Two women set up their mango leather for drying

Adopting these simple post-harvest handling and food safety practices has allowed about 100 farmers (25%) within the Mandalay Mango Farmer Group to obtain Myanmar Good Agricultural Practices certificates from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, which will also help them to sell to more profitable markets. Ma Chan Mya Nyein comments, “I have become focused on food safety and quality after the training.  I’m always careful of my fruits … are good quality and safe. Clients also praise that the mangos are in high demand.” In addition, due to farmers’ new connections with the Mandalay Mango Farmer Group, individual farmers have been able to receive better information on market prices, demand, and supply to improve their selling practices.

The Mandalay Mango Farmer Group is also disseminating the volunteers’ training materials. They have copied the materials and have shared them with over 100 farmers in the region. In addition, six female teachers and researchers from the post-harvest technology training center in Mandalay attended the training and are now able to provide improved technical assistance to farmers with questions on post-harvest handling and processing of mangos.

A woman from Mi Chaung Tat village selling homemade mango

Brian Boman was nominated by the Winrock Team because he embodies the ideal traits of a volunteer: technical excellence, flexibility, and passion. His volunteer work truly reflects Winrock’s mission to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources. 

Brian specializes in water management for agricultural crops and has provided capacity building for local institutions in multi-user irrigation system design; helping to design environmentally sound water management technologies and practices that contribute to smallholder resilience.  He has recently returned from his second volunteer assignment with the USAID Feed the Future Mozambique Resilient Agricultural Markets Activity-Nacala Corridor (RAMA), implemented by Winrock. The program increases resilience in farming households by improving access of smallholder farmers to quality agricultural information and technologies.

On his assignment, Brian worked closely with two local agriculture technology retailers to co-design custom small-scale irrigation systems using locally available components. The hands-on training and coaching he provided will ultimately allow these organizations to offer irrigation and water delivery services commercially to small producers and entrepreneurs in the Nacala corridor. 

Since Brian improved the capacity of irrigation service providers, they will then be able to provide more specialized and effective services to their clients, thus generating more income for their own businesses.  Clients will then be able to increase yields and grow crops during times of the year when rainfall is inadequate to produce crops and prices are high.  As a result, farmers should see increased income as well. 

Why did you want to volunteer? 

I get great satisfaction from assisting people and passing on what I’ve learned through education and experience to benefit others.  

What was the highlight of your most recent volunteer assignment abroad? 

It was very rewarding to see the excitement of the local team and smallholder farmers when they assisted in demonstrating the RAM pump that we had built with locally available materials.

How does your experience affect your worldview? 

Being immersed with people of different cultures and the one-on-one discussions with locals is enlightening and helps understand that even though we may have very different lives, we all have similar desires in regards to our friends and families.

What advice would you give a new volunteer? 

Forget all the preconceived notions that you have on the location.  To achieve maximum benefit, you need to thoroughly understand all aspects of the situation before making recommendations.  In many cases, ideas that you may think are really simple can greatly change lives for the better.  

How have your assignments made a difference in your own life?/Has your assignment caused you to do anything differently once you returned? 

I’m sure my friends would say that it has made me frequently remind them how fortunate we are to live in a free and prosperous country.

Why should people consider volunteering? 

It will change you and the lives of those you work with for the better.

How do you feel about the support from Winrock, whether before, during or after your assignments? 

The Winrock staff both in the USA and the in-country local staff are tremendously competent and go out of their way to make the assignment an effective and rewarding experience. 

What do you do when you’re not volunteering? 

I enjoy time with family and friends, woodworking, flying, fishing, and reading.

Do you keep in touch with your host organization? [Host organizations are the organizations that receive volunteer support] 

Yes – I have had several emails with the people that I worked with since returning to the USA.

How do you feel that your volunteer assignment has contributed to creating a shared understanding of different cultures through person-to-person interactions? 

Discussions during many hours of traveling, working and eating meals together covered wide-ranging topics ranging from family to politics and technical details of the assignment to philosophy, all helping to understand each of our backgrounds and culture.   

What keeps you going back to volunteer? 

Throughout my career, I have been very fortunate to learn from many wonderful people that have shared their knowledge with me.  I enjoy giving back by helping others that can benefit from my education and experience.  I also think that I am quite good at it.

What have you learned from your assignments? 

Regardless of culture, politics, and income level, we all have similar priorities – what is important is our friends and families. 

What, if anything, has surprised you on your assignments? 

I am often impressed by how smallholder farmers with little education or access to information have managed to develop simple ways to make work easier through generations of trial and error.

As Winrock bids farewell to the Asia Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program, we would like to share the learning and impacts of the program in Bangladesh.

Dr. Janet Henderson summarized her experiences facilitating the Bangladesh F2F Host Learning Event in Dhaka in August 2018. The workshop was designed to summarize key hosts’ successes and innovations, as well as ongoing challenges, and discuss lessons for how to sustain and build on F2F impacts and initiatives; enable hosts to hear and learn from each other and to network; and identify recommendations and lessons to improve effectiveness of future F2F programs and other agricultural development efforts.

A key aspect of this workshop was to learn directly from the hosts, the recipients of volunteer technical assistance, what were the things that worked, didn’t work, and could be improved. Panel members, guest speakers, and breakout groups provided the following lessons learned for a successful F2F program:

• Provide practical, hands-on training; skills and knowledge participant can readily use
• Encourage networking among host institutions and organizations
• Emphasize the economic aspects of agricultural production enterprises, such as marketing
• Be realistic about what a short-term assignment can accomplish; establishing “doable” objectives
• Build the capacity of youth-oriented organizations to support youth directly

Listening to the panel

Guest speakers, panel members, and breakout groups offered the following ways they are sustaining the efforts of F2F volunteers:

• Creating teaching materials, such as posters and flipcharts
• Incorporating information into course syllabi and curricula
• Developing specific courses and modules on training received
• Replicating F2F trainings for others while also developing new trainers
• Maintaining contact with the F2F implementers and volunteers for additional assistance

Winrock has had the honor to implement Farmer-to-Farmer in Bangladesh for 22 years. We wish to thank all of our staff in Bangladesh, our volunteer, and hosts and partners for their commitment to this program and to the development of the Bangladeshi agricultural sector.

Breakout session

Mr. Ihtesham B. Shahjahan, Managing Director, Quality Feeds Limited

We started the feed company in 1995 and then I met Winrock. We were looking for buyers to start our project. Actually, I met with many U.S. organizations, but Winrock was the only organization that met my project goals in many aspects. F2F has helped our farming sector a lot and helped our economy. Had it not been F2F, my company would have never reached the heights that it has today.

Mr. Michael Roy, Advisor, Shalom

We have received assistance from three Winrock F2F volunteers beginning in 2015. The volunteers worked with tribal communities in three areas of Bangladesh on mushroom, banana, and pineapple production. We started with 40 farmers, now we are working with 400. The farmers’ incomes have been raised and are expanding every day. The use of organic fertilizers is an example of growing something without harming anything. The F2F volunteer professors from the U.S. have continued to contact us and provide assistance. The screening of Winrock F2F volunteers for the “right” person made the project successful.

Dr. Wais Kabir, Executive Director, Krishi Gobeshona Foundation

I have seen Winrock primarily focus on making the agribusiness sector more organized. Our collaboration with Winrock encourages cross-country experiences and volunteers in a country like Bangladesh also bring networking opportunities. I believe that the continuation of such services in our country will add value.