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Volunteer Blog

VOLUNTEER BLOG

My Experience As A Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer in Nigeria

Posted on September 7, 2021 by Ovie Akpona

 

What was the best part about contributing to Farmer-to-Farmer as a national volunteer in their country/region?

Firstly, in the case of this assignment (which involved the development of training modules and in-person training of the host on strategic digital marketing for agribusinesses), the best part was having to interact and co-learn with the host as well as other agribusiness participants towards a playbook that identified the challenges and limitations akin to traditional marketing evident in their businesses, and developing their capacity to utilize digital marketing to carry out their businesses. This presents opportunities to increase visibility and generate business-to-business leads more efficiently.

Secondly, representing Winrock International at the National Level, as a Farmer-to-Farmer National Volunteer helped develop in me a psyche of being part of a global vision to achieve the SDG goal I (no poverty), II (zero hunger) and VIII (decent work and economic growth). This psyche wound up a resilience in me that transcended local boundaries to make impact despite the ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 transmission.

What was the best part about working with a remote US based volunteer?

Working with a remote US based volunteer made this cliché practical– the world is a global village. In practical terms, the knowledge, experiences and thoughts that diffused across borders seamlessly as a result of this assignment and via the technological aid of the internet was the best part for me.

What did you learn/were there any cultural exchanges with the US volunteer
and/or your host?

One outstanding example that the remote US Volunteer, Jessica Byasse shared which was her approach to using personalization as a communication technique to increase donations to a US-based NGO she worked with remained a key take-away for me, even as a digital marketing professional. It helped me view the use of this technique from a different cultural setting, and relate that with the local setting in Nigeria. This was very useful in the development of the material that was prepared for the host.

What lasting impact did volunteering with Winrock have on you?

Volunteering with Winrock International remains one of the highlights for me this year, especially as it helped me understand the scriptural saying (Acts 10:35) that “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. COVID-19 created a panic worldwide and a large percentage of people wound-up their psyche to receiving, so we had huge populations of people around the world expecting reliefs, vaccines, help and support in one way or the other.

In my case, I had myself through the volunteering activity, giving-off rather than receiving. This was by transferring knowledge, skills and expertise to help boost the host capacity to train agribusinesses to be digitally complaint in their marketing activities. In one sentence, volunteering with Winrock leaves me with this thought permanently and that is “Despite the prevailing circumstances you may find yourself in, always find creative ways to be of help or support to someone in need”

Posted in AET, Africa, Nigeria | Tagged agriculture, agriculture education & training, volunteer

My Experience As A Volunteer in Senegal

National volunteer, Ismaila Mane shares their experience as a Farmer-to-Farmer in Senegal

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Ismaila Mane

What was the best part about contributing to Farmer-to-Farmer as a national volunteer in your country/region ?

The best part of my contribution with Farmer-to-Farmer as a local volunteer in my country is the capacity building of the teachers of the vocational Training Center of Nioro du Rip in business marketing. It was interesting for me to be able to help the center to effectively manage their commercial and income generating activities in order to be able to face the budget deficit.

The government of Senegal has decided to make training centers responsible for generating income in order to manage their internal operations. And participating in this training gave me the opportunity to contribute my part in the implementation of this policy.

What was the best part about working with a remote US based volunteer ?

The remote work with the American volunteer (Michelle LaPrise) has greatly contributed to the improvement of the documents produced during the assignment, especially on the development of the business plan model and the questions that the promoter must ask himself on each part that composes the business plan.

I am in charge of following up with micro enterprises in my Zone of Influence and this collaboration with Michelle allowed me to grasp and appropriate other knowledge in the field of business and entrepreneurship. Michelle’s flexibility and willingness to assist was helpful and she has spared no effort in providing information despite the time differences. This further motivated me to provide the training from start to finish and to continue to work with the producers in my area to help them as much as I could without any setbacks.

What did you learn/were there any cultural exchanges?

I learned a lot about the assignment, especially about the financial indicators part of the business plan, the insertion model of the center and marketing techniques. There is a diversity of people within the center from all over Senegal. I met and exchanged with my Diola (one of the ethnic groups in Senegal) relatives and my Serer (another ethnic group)”workers” with whom I teased by taking examples from them during the training. This made the training much easier and with great fun. I was able to understand that this cousinhood is practiced everywhere in Senegal and contributes greatly to the social peace of the country. This mission also allowed me to discover another part of the country with different cultural features.

What lasting impact did this have on you?

This assignment allowed me to reinforce my knowledge on marketing techniques and business plan elaboration. It has allowed me today to reinforce my knowledge on business marketing. There is a lot of materials and information that will be useful to me in my activities with the producers that I supervise. I will definitely become another type of trainer in the future.

What advice would you give or what would you want to tell someone else who is interested in volunteering nationally?

This program allows us not only to develop our skills but also to share our experiences with the beneficiaries for the development of this country. It is a very interesting program. In addition, it allows us to contribute to the capacity building of learners, youth and women in different areas of the country, in order to contribute to sustainable development at the local level.

Why did you choose to volunteer?

I chose to volunteer in the Farmer-to-Farmer program because I am driven by the spirit of sharing and the constant quest for experience and knowledge. Since I am also a microenterprise consultant, I felt it necessary to give my time and in return gain experience for my future career.

Posted in AET, Senegal, Senegal | Tagged agriculture, international volunteer, west africa

Learning from the Past Years with Farmer to Farmer

Looking Forward to Learning More in the Years to Come!

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Mike Bassey, Nigeria F2F Country Director

L-R: Jen Snow, Associate Director; Ibro Diallo, Guinea Country Director; Mike Bassey, Nigeria Country Director

Mike Bassey joined Winrock International in April 2011. Mike is a Certified Accountant and has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Roehampton, London. Before his work with F2F, Mike managed the Drucker Center for Entrepreneurship Development (DCED) of the Kaduna Business School before joining the World Bank/Government of Nigeria Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) project. Working with Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers has in many ways strengthened Mike’s motivation to do his own volunteering. In his free time Mike heads a Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God as a volunteer Pastor and enjoys fixing simple plumbing and carpentry.

I started out just like most young Nigerians: not wanting to study or have anything to do with farming or agriculture; I wanted to become a certified accountant. After achieving that goal and working in a for-profit, efficiency-driven environment, I felt professionally unfulfilled. However, when I began managing a World Bank/Government of Nigeria agricultural and tourism value chains development program focusing on opportunities for smallholder farmers to increase productivity, income and overall improve their livelihoods, it opened my eyes to the how rewarding the agriculture sector could be.

Working with smallholder farmers was  wonderful but working with F2F volunteers who each come with different skills offered me the opportunity to learn a lot and I now know what it takes to be a beekeeper, fish farmer, and trainer; increasing my skills in organizational development, institutional assessments, partnership development, recordkeeping, leadership, campaigning for safe pesticide use For instance, with:

Leslie Harris Cosgrove – I learned about business and project development for grant funding. I learned about the components and the documents (strategic plan, revenue-raising plan, and platform statement) required for successful grant proposal writing as well as the art of winning grant proposal writing. Two of the most resounding experience working with a) Leslie was seeing the faculty of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Osun State rise from a practically zero Ph.D. research grants to 26 Ph.D.D research grants in three years following the 2015 training to the leaders and faculty of the institution; and b) the formation of the Net which she co-facilitated with Professor Chris Igodan of the Ohio State University.

A group leader delivers the groups project to the volunteer

Mathew Baker, a professor from the Texas Tech University –Dr. Baker and I had several great discussions  on leadership development and managing people. It was a huge surprise when, upon returning to the US, Dr. Baker asked me to do a one-page write-up on ‘community extension service’ – one of the topics we discussed during his visit. This resulted in a paper that was jointly presented by Baker and me at a conference at the Ohio State University.

Volunteer with Mike (center) and host members

Jolene Warnke-Roszel – I learned about the dangers inherent in abuse and pesticides misuse; to the applicators, farmers and their families, livestock, communities as well as consumers through air pollution, contamination of source of drinking water and farm products. I also learned about ways to minimize the hazards associated with these chemicals.

Jennifer Kushner – I learned lessons about general monitoring and evaluation and specifically learned how to develop a program logic model. I worked with the volunteer and the Nigeria F2F team to develop a logic model for the Network for Agricultural Technical Education’s Making Agriculture Glamorous and Attractive to Nigerian Youth Initiative.

Volunteer (center) with host members and Mike (right)

Teresa Morris – I learned so much about sustainable agricultural practices – best practices in natural resource (soil and water) maximization and management, composting, etc.

Volunteer discusses with the village leader

I have always considered myself fortunate to interact with these highly skilled professionals and benefit from these relationships. Especially since they provide me with a huge resource base for me to continue to leverage. The new program presents me with yet another excellent opportunity to continue to deepen my learning experience.

Posted in Africa, Nigeria | Tagged agriculture, Farmer-to-Farmer, knowledge transfer, Nigeria, service |

Being a Winrocker and F2F family member; one of the best choices, ever, in my life

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Thet Khaing


August 17, 2018. It was a rainy day in Yangon. Winrock’s F2F staff, from the head office and Asia region, and volunteers hugged each other and said ‘bye’ from their hearts in the Yangon airport lobby. I remembered the day I finished my final examination in University; all the friends were happy as we had faced the biggest challenge of our life, however, we were so sad from deep within our hearts as we had to be apart after 5 years of friendship under the same roof.

After just as many years implementing USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Asia region, mainly in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, Winrock is going to hand over the program to another implementer at the end of September. We are hugging with great happiness and pride for accomplishing the 5-year program successfully, wishing each other to have bright futures after. However, I felt everyone’s sadness from their eyes for the separation and being away from Winrock’s roof where we had lived for 5 years together. Yes, it was  similar to my last day of university life. It was  bite-the-bullet time. We have to accept the things we cannot change, haven’t we?

Each and every host country in the Asia F2F program conducted a learning event to review the program’s activities we worked hard on, successes we accomplished, impacts we made, challenges we faced and opportunities we have to improve. We discussed those things in the regional workshop conducted from August 15 to 17, 2018 in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State. Within 5 years, we, Asia F2F program assisted 19,184 people in 3 host countries through 330F2F volunteer assignments in the areas of rural development, agricultural education and training and youth entrepreneurship. We have done a good job for the people and for the host countries, of course including my motherland. We were not just focusing on productivity, but we also considered food safety. We were not just improving the quality of agriculture products, but we also alert on resilience and constantly thought about sustainability. Our focus was not only on agriculture but also on people; how they live their lives, how they work together to improve their livelihood and business.

I tried to shift my emotional thoughts to technical analysis. F2F has reviewed itself, how about me? What did the past 5 years of my life as a Winrocker mean? How much did I improve? Who was I, and who am I right now? I analyzed the baseline and impact of my bio-data.

OMG! I found that Winrock and F2F changed my life a lot. I changed from a vet who only thought about Foot and Mouth Disease all the time to someone who is advocating integration of livestock and crop productions. F2F changed me from a lab technician who was worrying about the bacterial contamination of baby hamster kidney cells in which virus replicated to produce FMD vaccine, into a man who is worrying about the safety of the food for the people of the whole world. I should not show-off that I changed from a specialist to a generalist. However, I have the confidence to say that the F2F program and its volunteers helped broaden my view from the microscope to the globe.

As a Winrocker, F2F impacted not only my vision but also my career life. The knowledge gained from F2F volunteers, field trips, and management work, helped a lot in my other life as a freelance writer.

Working in the field translating from volunteers’ scientific information into farmer’s language was the most pride filled l part of my job in the F2F program. If the technology and science were the gods, F2F and I as an F2F technical officer will be the messengers. Without farmers, there is no world. Without scientific and technical knowledge, the farmers cannot grow. Without the messengers like F2F, the farmers lack  that knowledge.

As a Winrocker, I am very proud to be the one who understands farmers lives, the one who serves  the farmers , the one who has the vision to feed the world, the one who fights for resilience and sustainability of agriculture, and the one who is working hard.

Mr Kofi Annan, who is former secretary general of United Nations and passed away recently, once said, “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there”.

I was a Winrocker and F2F technical staff. Yeah, I am sure I chose it very very well, five years ago. And it was right. It will be one of the best choices ever in my life.

Posted in Asia, Myanmar, Winrock Staff | Tagged agriculture, Farmer-to-Farmer, Myanmar

Market Value Chains of Small Ruminants

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Daniel Miller

My last visit to Mali was in 2013, and there has been significant change since then. In Bamako, construction has progressed rapidly, and outside Bamako, roads are now in good shape and services, along those roads, are much more available.  Use of cell phones is ubiquitous and is one of the most important factors responsible for advancing social welfare.  Medical care is much more available with clinics and hospitals in all the towns.  In the south, trypanosomiasis [disease caused by the Tsetse Fly] is no longer the primary factor restricting livestock production, and has been replaced by nutrition and internal parasites as the primary constraints.

One purpose of this project is to lay the foundations for a future value chain analysis of the marketing of small ruminants, primarily sheep.  The goal of the analysis is to augment sale of small ruminants so poor farmers’ standard of living is raised.  By determining who the various actors affecting the production and marketing of small ruminants are and what they are doing, changes can be implemented to improve efficiency.

We visited villages around Bamako and Bougouni which are in the semi humid zone.  Briefly what we found is that a major problem is mortality of animals before they reach market age.  This is a problem in all the villages we visited, but different villages with slightly different management styles appeared to be losing animals for different reasons.  In one village their lambs and kids were dying young, probably because they were actively preventing them from nursing colostrum right after birth.  In other villages death loss occurred later soon after weaning and appeared to have been due to internal parasites, primarily Haemonchus and Fasciola, although Eimeria (coccidiosis) may also be involved.

In addition to disease, nutrition is also a constraint although not as much.  Suboptimal nutrition increases the time until they reach market weight.  Small ruminants during the dry season are allowed to wander free in the bush where there is still plenty of browse [woody plants, vines, brush] although little grass.  Since the digestive physiology of goats and to a lesser extent sheep is adapted to use browse rather than grass, this is not as problematic as for cattle.

Livestock owners in the villages also cut browse for their animals on a daily basis and there is a small economic component of villagers cutting browse, transporting it on motorcycles and selling it to livestock owners in towns.  They also feed kitchen waste – millet and rice – but this is more important for poultry than small ruminants.  Some places have rock salt for their livestock, but this practice plus the use of homemade salt/mineral blocks could be expanded.  There are several women’s cooperatives in the country making and selling these blocks.

During the growing season the flocks of small ruminants go into the bush to forage, but they are controlled by herders to keep them out of the crops.  This has implications for another program, planting improved forage trees, that has a lot of interest.  There are a number of species of legume trees that are being introduced worldwide as high protein fodder.  Two being used in Mali are Leucaena and Gliciridia.  In addition Moringa, a native of India that is claimed to have excellent nutritive properties, is being introduced.  The main problem is that they are very palatable, especially Leucaena, so during the dry season when sheep and goats wander unrestricted, they eat the saplings that are planted before they grow out of reach.  The villagers commonly ask for advice on how to protect the plants.  Leucaena has been used in Mali for decades.

Something that concerns me is that the training that the villagers received in the past was not as comprehensive as it should have been.  For example, the use of colostrum is the first principle of neonatal management for transfer of maternal antibodies, but none of the villagers we visited were aware of its importance.  They were aware that urea is part of nutritional supplementation, but they did not know why nor were they knowledgeable about its toxicity.  It seems that often they were given steps to follow, but without explanation of the reasons for the steps.

The other part of the assignment, study the functioning of the marketplace, raised some contradictions.  Before going into the field, we asked about how a farmer sells his animals.  We were told that usually the farmer sells them himself at the marketplace, but there are middlemen who will buy the animal for resale and if there are problems, the middleman assumes the risk.  In the field at the cattle market in Bougouni we were told that if there is a middleman, he contracts with the farmer as to a price and then sells the animal and gives the farmer the money.  The farmer pays a percentage of the price to the middleman.  If the middleman gets more for the cow, he keeps the difference plus his percentage.  If he cannot get the price, he returns the animal to the farmer.  Usually, however, the farmer sells directly to the trucker who takes the bull to Bamako to be butchered.

In a few cases if the bulls are not sold because they are too thin, the owners will trek them to Bamako, grazing along the way and hopefully putting on weight.  We did not determine how frequent that is, but it did not seem to be an option for small ruminants.

In Bamako we were told for that for international trade the farmer sells the animal on credit and is paid when the animal is sold to the end buyer.  In Bougouni we were told that the farmer is paid on the spot.

The small ruminant market in Bougouni is strictly local with farmers trying to sell only a few animals, fewer than a dozen apiece.  With small ruminants there is a marked difference between the local animals and the improved breeds from the north – Chad, Balibalia, Sahel, Sudan.  Improved breeds are often sold for breeding rather than slaughter.  The buyer pays on the spot or if known to the seller, may offer something as collateral with an agreement to pay the rest later.

Other actors are suppliers of veterinary drugs and nutritional supplements, often the same person.  Their use does not appear to be widespread in the villages, but people in towns do purchase them.  Vaccines are available for most of the major diseases except fiebre afteuse (FMD, foot and mouth disease).  These vaccines are produced at the Central Veterinary Laboratory (LCV) and include blackleg, anthrax, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, peste de petites ruminants, and pasteurellosis.  Programs to encourage farmers to vaccinate regularly have been implemented by various agencies, but have not been notably successful.  ILRI has a program that resulted in almost doubling the vaccination rate, but it was still less than half the animals.

As for FMD, at least one village reported that it is a frequent occurrence during the rainy season.  It does not occur every year, but often enough to be a major problem.  The vaccines come from Botswana where the FMD serotypes (SAT -1, 2, 3, O, A) are different from West Africa serotypes (SAT 2, O, A) and thus are almost useless in preventing Malian FMD.  The problems of vaccinating are analogous to influenza in humans in that the vaccine has to be matched to the viral strain causing the outbreak.  For future projects the suggestion is to reduce mortality through better education and implement additional channels of sale that would result in a stable marketplace.  There are two major markets for sheep and to a much lesser extent goats, Tabaski and daily.  Tabaski comes once a year and has important requirements as to ram color and conformation with some importance placed on weight.   The rest of the year is either for butchers who are concerned primarily with dressing percentage or baptisms, birthdays, weddings or other celebrations that may have a minor interest in the color, sex and appearance of the animal.  Informing the various requirements to the producers with rewards for meeting them would help.  While Tabaski requirements are well-known, the quotidian requirements are not regarded as equally important.

Fattening animals is becoming more frequent, especially for women.  We did not encounter it much, but the few people who were fattening animals did not seem to be aware of nutritional requirements, especially for protein, minerals and roughage.

The source of animals to fatten are either the market or the producer’s own herd.  Buying on the market is riskier because the fattener is unaware of any health problems that may reoccur and a producer is not normal going to sell his best animals for fattening.  To be financially successful, the fattener should also have their own source of feed.  Buying all inputs cuts margins too thin.  Supplements such as oil seed cake or bran, mineral salt, molasses/urea can be purchased, but the main dietary components for energy and protein are better produced by the fatteners themselves.

Suggestions to be studied for their feasibility are planted pastures with inter-seeded legumes (lablab and others) and forage trees such as Leucaena, Gliciridia.  and others adapted to Malian conditions.  Small ruminant fattening as a sideline to other agricultural processing enterprises producing by-products to be used as feed has been successful in other countries and can be successful here.

Mali is a contrast of tradition and modernism.  The farmers do things very traditionally, but when there is some new appropriate technology or procedure that is within their means, they jump on it with both feet.  They don’t hold onto the notion “this is the way we’ve always done it.”  It makes my work a lot easier.

Posted in Africa, Mali | Tagged AET, agriculture, livestock, Mali, volunteerism, Winrock Volunteers
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