In October 2021 the West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) project in Ghana was invited to present a brief statement in the Eastern Region, Koforidua; at the maiden two-day Eastern Commodity Satellite Market Fair, organized by the Regional Agricultural Department of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council on the theme: “Developing the Eastern Commodity Satellite Markets: The Role of Agro-input Dealers and Processors.” 

Country Director, Mina Lassey, gives a statement at the Eastern Commodity Satellite Market Fair

New packaging developed with help from F2F Volunteers

The Regional Agricultural Department has the mandate to foster market linkages for smallholder farmers, processors, and aggregators under the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) Program. The region adopted the development of commodity satellite markets as its main strategy to ensure that farmers have access to markets. Under this initiative, each District Agricultural Department was tasked with a responsibility to facilitate the branding and selling of at least one agricultural commodity in which they have both competitive and comparative advantage. Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers April Thompson and Molly Hamilton trained the Department of Agriculture on branding, packaging, and labeling of rice. The neatly and beautifully packed products at the fair were the results of the F2F volunteer assistance. The Country Director of the F2F project pledged their continued collaboration with the MAG secretariate and the Department of Agriculture to increase income and livelihoods of farmers, agro-processors, and support the agricultural sector in general.

Farmer-to-Farmer Ghana Country Director, Mina Lassey, helps cut the ribbon

The Eastern Regional Minister, Hon Seth Kwame Acheampong, officially opened the fair and commended the Department of Agriculture for the job well done. He also greatly commended the USAID-funded West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer Project for the support to the agricultural sector.

In January 2022, Adama Pouye from Senegal and Nancy Scott from the United States, came together to help the women of Cooperation of the Networks of Users of the Consular Agricultural Training and Transformation Unit (RUUFTAC) create new and improved products to sell in their communities. 

In Senegal, there is a market for bakery products made from local cereals and women are looking for ways to boost their incomes by offering high-quality baked products. Using the new paired model, created during the COVID pandemic to overcome the inability to travel, US volunteers are matched up with a Senegalese volunteer to jointly plan and offer training. Taking full advantage of available technology, Nancy and Adama met over Zoom and communicated via email and WhatsApp to create a training plan tailored for RUUFTAC. Together they helped teach the women of RUUFTAC new techniques to make nutritious baked products using local grains such as millet, corn, rice, and black eye peas. One of the training participants during the training said “We did not believe that pastry can be made from local cereals. Our cereals have more value than we expected.’’

Based on their information gathering with association members and her own experience in the US, Nancy adapted, tested, and proposed recipes. Together Adama and Nancy finalized recipes and planned the training. Adama then provided hands-on demonstrations for how to make corn cakes, millet madeleines, corn birthday cakes with buttercream and chocolate, peanut butter cookies, local cereal fritters, buns, croissants, and black eye pea and pumpkin bread. All of which were delicious according to Farmer-to-Farmer Country Directer, Abibou Diaw, who had the lucky job of being a taste tester for this assignment!

US volunteer joins via zoom to watch the participants try her recipes

Most of the participants have already taken some initiative to implement what they have learned. Some are making healthy children’s snacks from the recipes shared. “Adama and Nancy’s team gave us new and enriching baking techniques. We learned a lot from the local grains available. My little store in front of my house will have new products and attract more customers” Ndeye Seynabou Dieng, member of the cooperative. The goal of this training was to enable the women of RUUFTAC to earn extra income while also creating nutrious items for their community, as a bonus, buying local cereals also helps small-scale farmers in local communities. When women are empowered to use their skills and knowledge, everyone benefits. Thank you to Adama and Nancy for reaching across an ocean and working together to bring their knowledge to RUUFTAC!

National volunteer, Adama, tastes one of the new recipes developed by US volunteer Nancy and baked by a member of RUUFTAC

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.

The fourth in our series of introductory blogs again comes from Senegal, which has the largest number of Winrock F2F staff in-country. 

My name is Youssouph Sane and I’m one of the Winrock Drivers. After I earned a Baccalaureate degree I joined the Army for two years where I got my military driving license which afterward turned it to a civil driving license.

I then worked for security companies like Phoenix and Sagam. For Sagam, I was posted as a vigil in a bank. After work, I used to volunteer as a driving school instructor for one year and a half. I was inspired when English people who came to the bank needed help and I struggled to give them information with my low-level English. So I started English classes for four hours a week. It was not enough for me but it was fine. After 4 years I got a promotion as a driver in the Sagam security company so I  stopped English classes. It was an opportunity and an experience for me to become familiar with Senegalese traffic regulations and I realized really how hard it is to drive in a big city like Dakar for more than eight hours a day or at night without stopping. One day, as I was passing by Winrock’s office I saw the Winrock sign and thought to apply for a job; so I did and was called for an interview. A couple of weeks later I got the job.

My favorite pastimes are exercising; watching soccer and movies on tv; being with my lovely daughters and conversing with people.

Working for an American company was my dream because of their hardworking attitude, seriousness, and pay. It is also an opportunity to improve my English.

I have learned a lot from F2F volunteers about pruning, making compost, and constructing drip irrigation from local material but I haven’t applied any of the volunteers’ technique so far because I have yet to have the opportunity. Volunteers helped me a lot because being with them pushes me to practice English and now I know many things about American culture.

Pick up/drop off, assisting for the volunteers and supporting the staff are the most interesting parts of my job.

Once there was a volunteer who didn’t find her luggage when she arrived at Dakar’s airport. So we canceled the trip for the next day; therefore, she stayed in Dakar longer than planned. In order to catch up and not change her training agenda, we had to make the return trip in one day, therefore, we traveled the whole day from Kolda to Dakar (a 7-10 hour car ride) and it was very tough journey because of the distance.

Senegal Team

Today, April 22, we celebrate Earth Day. The 2019 Earth Day campaign centers on the protection of animal species. The Earth Day network notes that “All living things have an intrinsic value, and each plays a unique role in the complex web of life. We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species.”

Among those species are bees.

Bees provide economic opportunity for farmers. Beekeepers can sell the honey and use the beeswax to make value-added products like candles or lotions. Bees are not only important for their honey production, but they are also critical for the environment in their role as pollinators. Farmers benefit from bees’ pollinator role in the ecosystem, as bees pollinate 70% of crop species that feed 90% of the world’s population.[1] Many plants—including food crops—would not survive without bees’ pollination role in the ecosystem[2].  Bees are vital for healthy agricultural systems.

Verifying final honey product

Winrock, via the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program, has fielded over 120 volunteer assignments to support beekeepers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As Winrock dives into the implementation of the West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer program, below are some recent impacts of beekeeping assignments in the region:

• In Guinea, F2F trained the Beekeepers Federation’s trainers, who replicated the training to 32 groups (827 producers). Techniques widely shared include natural methods to keep ants away, making beeswax products and better hive management. With these technical improvements, in addition to organizational development support, the Federation was able to negotiate a new contract with pre-payment. Sales doubled in just two years.
• In Senegal, the International Center for Practical Training in Mboro-Beekeeping Division replicated training in improved beekeeping among 8,427 beekeeping community members. The training included specific modules on parasite and disease management and harvesting and processing of by-products. The Center’s successful application of improved beekeeping has led to a partnership with Grande Cote Operation-Zircon, whereby the Center will train GCOZ’s staff.
• F2F trained the Honey Producers Microenterprise of Ley Miro, Guinea, in topics related to governance and technical subjects related to the quality of honey and production of byproducts from beeswax. The organization was able to roll out five new or improved products, including soaps and clean honey, to the market. The members were also able to replicate the training to two additional organizations.

Girls testing lotion made during training

All these activities support bee populations and amplify the importance of a bee’s role in our ecosystem.

As a volunteer, what can you do to support bee populations and Mother Earth? Whether you are providing technical assistance to farmers in the field or designing an agricultural curriculum with a university, discourage the use of pesticides. The widespread use of pesticides destroys bee habitats and kills bees. Instead, encourage natural integrated pest management practice and multi-cropping practices that diversify and increase bee habitats.

Making Soap with Honey

[1] http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct

[2] National Resources Defense Council. “Bee Facts.” 2011.