Greetings from our Farmer-to-Farmer team here in the USA! Our U.S.-based team is incredibly grateful for our dedicated country staff, skilled volunteers and welcoming program hosts across the globe, without whom our work providing solutions for some of the world’s most complex social, agricultural, and environmental issues would not be possible. Enjoy this account of an international team coming together, along with country hosts, to continue our path forward in achieving our mission. Thank you! 

In November 2019, Winrock International organized a Farmer-to-Farmer Regional Meeting to reflect on the past year of implementation and plan for the upcoming year. This meeting, which took place in Senegal, marked my first time traveling to West Africa, and the greater African continent. The opportunity to participate in this meeting came because I work alongside colleagues in both our West African offices as well as our stateside offices in planning for, recruiting, and mobilizing U.S. volunteers to bring technical assistance to projects across West Africa through the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program. Though I have been working on the project since January, this marked my first opportunity to begin meeting our country staff who work on the project.

In Senegal, we were joined by our entire Senegal team, as well as all our country directors from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and Nigeria. As we came together to discuss successes, challenges, and plans for the coming year, we shared laughter, meals, and more about ourselves with each other. As we discussed the program, the key themes for working together were flexibility, communication, and partnership. While this project is international, the same themes that make work successful on a local scale are also the keys to working with an international team. Having extensive time face to face with the country staff made all the difference in helping to more clearly understand their daily context on the ground in the countries we are working in. It also helped to build relationships with my colleagues – as being face to face for a week provides opportunities weekly or biweekly meetings by phone or video do not. Our week together in Senegal was full of learning – both in sessions in a meeting room and in field visits with hosts we have and continue to work with. In our meetings together we had sessions led by each of us that ranged from growing local partnerships to increasing our recruitment of experts as volunteers. During our field visits, we learned how our host organizations have grown and adapted their work as a result of volunteer assignments and recommendations and learned about continuing needs to be addressed by future volunteers. We visited several vocational training centers in Guinea that utilize our volunteers to train their staff and students, but more widely to increase technical knowledge and skills for their communities as a whole.

Following my time in Senegal, I traveled to Guinea with my colleague from the National Peace Corps Association, a sub-awardee under Winrock’s Farmer-to-Farmer project, and we spent 4 days with the Guinea office planning for the year, building relationships, and visiting hosts. Returning home and reflecting on my time in West Africa I am grateful for the hospitality of our country staff in both Senegal and Guinea, as well as our hosts who we visited in both countries. I am grateful to have better relationships with country staff, as well as more context for on the ground logistics in West Africa, which will help me to be a better recruiter and mobilizer for U.S. volunteers to assist with projects across West Africa as part of the program. I am excited for what the year ahead holds.

My name is Chelsey Corliss, I’m 24 years old and I’m an Agroforestry Peace Corps Volunteer serving in the Kindia Region of Guinea. I have been living in Guinea for seven months. Environmental conservation and organic farming are two of my interests for my service but I have trouble talking and teaching about organic farming because using chemicals makes farming so much faster and easier, right?

The Farmer-to-Farmer training in Kondoya at Fabik Ferem Ecole was wonderful. I honestly didn’t know what to expect before going. I was actually uneasy about how difficult it was to get to the farm because taxis don’t go out there, but once I got there I realized how perfect Fabik Farm School was for an organic farming training. The school director had so many dreams and aspirations that were so inspirational and motivating. I invited two members of my community who rely on farming for the majority of their income. The trainer, Tom Sebranek did a great job of explaining the topics and engaging his students. I enjoyed seeing my counterparts so engaged, asking questions and becoming excited to implement some of the new techniques they were learning.

I learned new techniques for composting, pest management and seed collection as well as how to teach them. I plan to start composting in my village with many of the farmers who are interested in going organic. With the help of my counterparts, I think that we can gain more interest in organic farming and help our community become healthier and greener. I can not wait to get started!

“Si vous prenez soin du sol, le sol pendra soin du vous!” – “If you take care of the soil the soil will take care of you.”

As part of the ongoing and growing relationship between Winrock Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) in Guinea and the Peace Corps, Winrock’s Guinea County Director, Ibrahima Diallo, and Program Assistant, Ousmane Diallo attended and presented at the Peace Corps Partners’ Fair in May 2019. They shared information about F2F in Guinea, as well as the benefits of a partnership with Peace Corps, including having Peace Corps volunteers bring information back to the villages they are volunteering in, and through replication, expanding the best practices from F2F training more broadly throughout Guinea.

As a testament to the deepening relationship between both organizations, Peace Corps Guinea Country Director requested two F2F volunteers to support their Food Security Training, focusing on beekeeping and nutrition. Scopes of work are currently being developed with the dual purpose of training both Peace Corps volunteers and their beneficiaries, as well as other hosts in Guinea.

Volunteer Andrew Tonks works with Peace Corp and GAIN members.

By deepening the relationship with Peace Corps, Winrock is achieving the F2F goals in Guinea of improving rural livelihood development and agriculture education and training, as well as promoting agricultural growth and cross-cultural understanding through technical assistance from skilled F2F volunteers.

Volunteer Janet Buresh looks on as Peace Corp and COJDAGUI member work together during training.

July 15th is World Youth Skills Day. There are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 percent of the global population. The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving sustainable, inclusive and stable societies by the target date, and to averting the worst threats and challenges to sustainable development, including the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict, and migration. However, young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously exposed to lower quality of jobs, greater labor market inequalities, and longer and more insecure school-to-work transitions. This World Youth Skills Day, we emphasize the importance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in providing youth with the opportunities to develop their competencies and accelerate their transition to work. SMARTE is an associate award under F2F and fields US volunteers to help conduct training.

Mr. Cherif with a representative of a women’s shallot producer group

Apprenticeship in Extension Entrepreneurship and Rural Innovation (AVENIR) initiative under the Strengthening Market-Led Agriculture Research, Technology, and Education (SMARTE) project provides an opportunity for Guinean youth to apprentice in Guinea’s agricultural sector while developing their own business plans.

Savana, a French-based regional ag-input supplier, was quick to contract AVENIR after starting operations in Guinea in March 2018.  Under a partnership agreement, Winrock recruited two AVENIR specifically for Savana and trained them in a one-month business skills curriculum. In turn, Savana provided training on agro-inputs to 45 AVENIR and has covered all costs for the two AVENIR to conduct market studies on agricultural inputs in the Kindia and Kankan prefectures of Guinea.

AVENIR agents Alhassane Cisse and Haidara Cherif are currently collecting important crop data including planting, harvesting, major crop diseases, and disease control methods. They have already identified and cost over 15 agrochemicals on the Guinea market through contact with 17 agro-input suppliers and four federation representatives working with over 1,937 farmers groups.

Mr. Cherif has already proposed solutions to expand outreach through credible federations and distributors via an inventory monitoring system. Furthermore, Mr. Cherif finalized his own business ideas related to ag-input supply and private sector extension services through Kankan based producers’ organizations.

Savana’s vision is to be the leading ag-input supplier in Guinea by 2023. Amaury Fichant of Savana states, “Savana chose to work with trainees from the AVENIR program to expand into new regions of Guinea. The relationship allows us to be present on the ground day by day alongside the various actors of the agricultural sectors while offering AVENIR the opportunity to work with an international group while developing a truly market-based business plan. Through our actions, with the help of AVENIR agents, we wish to be involved in the development of Guinean agriculture.”  The relationship between Savana and AVENIR demonstrates how the USAID-funded SMARTE program, Guinean youth, and the private sector can sustainably support Guinean producers to improve productivity and profitability.

From April 22 to May 8, 2019, I had the pleasure of working on a USAID Farmer-to-Farmer assignment in Nzerekore, Guinea, West Africa.  The implementer for the assignment was Winrock International and this organization took very good care of me.  After departing the capital, Conakry, my driver, translator, and I traveled 1000 kilometers by road to Nzerekore.  It took about 22 hours of mostly bone-jarring roads.

Crossing wooden bridge with F2F driver Bailo

Nzerekore is known as the forested region and produces oil palm (locally called red oil), rubber, cacao, and coffee.  As this was my first time working with oil and rubber crops, I learned a lot about growing the crops and how the oil is processed.  It is used locally for cooking and is highly sought after, especially as Ramadan was approaching.

Discussing proper pesticide use in the field

My assignment was specifically to address pesticide safety issues focusing on the appropriate use of pesticide products and in the correct amount.  The group was enthusiastic and asked many good questions.  All of the farmers used glyphosate as an herbicide and much of my time was used to explain how to use the product most effectively.  I use glyphosate on my farm so I was able to give the farmers first-hand knowledge.

Guinea is a warm and friendly country.  I never felt threatened or uncomfortable.  One evening I ate some food that made me a little ill and I had to take a day off from training. The day I was recuperating, a group of 8 farmers came to my hotel to wish me good health and offered to bring me food for a speedy recovery.  The empathy shown was most welcomed.

Translator, Damba, Interpreting sprayer calibration to farmers

Despite the physical hardships in this country, the eagerness of these farmers to learn and the warmth and hospitality they showed, made this assignment a very satisfying experience.

Oil Palm farm family and F2F volunteer David Ringuette