Agriculture & Food Security

Women farmers in Mauritania face high weather and market risk, and one failed harvest can push a family into hardship. AGFUND funded the GROW+ project to introduce crop insurance and strengthen women’s financial capacity, helping them withstand these shocks and move out of precarious situations. Partners of the Americas worked with the insurers ACRE and MAR Assurance to make crop insurance available to women farmers. It also trained 200 women in budgeting, savings, debt management, mobile payments, and digital marketing, in close coordination with IBDAA Bank, a local financial institution.

Women welcomed the prospect of coverage: nearly all received information on crop insurance, and almost all of those not yet enrolled said they plan to sign up. After the training, 81% of participants improved their scores on a financial knowledge test. The project also launched an online marketplace, administered by IBDAA Bank, to connect women farmers with buyers, and its usage continues to grow after the project’s close. The project demonstrates Partners of the Americas’ ability to bring insurers, banks, and communities together to reduce risk and build financial strength for women farmers.

Smallholder farmers and small agribusinesses around the world often lack access to the practical know-how that US farmers and agricultural scientists have built over generations. Through the US Government’s Agricultural Volunteer Opportunity Project, Partners of the Americas awarded and managed eight grants that sent US volunteers on short-term assignments in eight countries. Volunteers worked with coconut farmers and cooperatives in the Philippines; women-led nut, medicinal plant, and fruit tree cooperatives in Morocco; poultry and livestock farmers in Burkina Faso; horticulture and livestock producers and extension staff in Cambodia and Trinidad and Tobago; potato, tomato, and onion growers in the Bahamas; cardamom growers in Guatemala; and horticulture businesses in Uzbekistan. Assignments ranged from queen bee rearing and nursery design to mushroom spawn production, hydroponics, crop rotation, pest management, food safety, cardamom dryer engineering, and farm business planning.

The eight programs completed 324 volunteer assignments and trained 8,008 people, 56% of them women. Volunteers made 1,606 recommendations, and host organizations applied 55% of them. In the Philippines alone, 36 assignments were completed this way, and the program still exceeded its overall assignment target. The project demonstrates Partners of the Americas’ ability to manage a network of programs that brings US agricultural expertise to farmers and businesses across many countries.

Smallholder farmers and rural businesses in developing countries often lack access to practical expertise that could help them grow and earn more. Through the US Government’s Farmer-to-Farmer program, Partners of the Americas has worked since 1991 with volunteers from the United States in over 30 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. US farmers, university experts, and agribusiness professionals take short-term volunteer assignments with farmers, cooperatives, schools, and small businesses. Countries include Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana, Colombia, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Myanmar. Volunteers work on what hosts ask for, from soil health, irrigation, and beekeeping to coffee and cacao production, and business planning.

Over more than three decades, Partners of the Americas has completed thousands of volunteer assignments. In its 2019–2023 program alone, 536 assignments across six countries trained more than 15,000 people, 46% of them women and 31% youth, with volunteers coming from 44 US states and Puerto Rico. Hosts applied more than 1,000 volunteer recommendations to improve their farms and businesses. The program demonstrates Partners of the Americas’ ability to run a demand-driven volunteer network across many countries and to build lasting partnerships between US and local farming communities.

Tunisia’s southern oases are the region’s main source of income and employment, but water scarcity threatens their productivity and the livelihoods of the families who depend on them. Through the US Department of Agriculture Food for Progress Tunisia program, Partners of the Americas worked to make oasis agriculture more productive and resilient. The project aimed to improve water management, strengthen the long-term sustainability of oasis crops, and expand agricultural trade.

Smallholder horticulture farmers in Mauritania face low yields that limit both household income and the supply of fresh food in local markets. Through the US Department of Agriculture Food for Progress program in Mauritania, Partners of the Americas worked to help farmers raise productivity by adopting agricultural technologies and practices. The project produced a farming guide in local languages, made improved vegetable seeds available through local agro-dealers, and trained farmers and students in modern irrigation. It also supported investment in cold storage for fresh produce by connecting investors with opportunities.

Partners of the Americas profiled 4,061 farmers and agro-pastoralists in the Trarza, Brakna, and Gorgol regions, mapping each farm’s starting point and planning improvements. The project trained farmers, professors, and students in new irrigation techniques. Farmers, agricultural schools, and investors can use the project’s irrigation, market price, and mapping studies, the farming guide, and an online mapping portal. The project demonstrates Partners of the Americas’ ability to deliver technical expertise and build partnerships in a challenging operating environment.

Many Colombian cacao farmers depend on a single crop and fragile market links, leaving their incomes exposed to price swings and poor harvests. Through the US Department of Agriculture Food for Progress Colombia program, Partners of the Americas helped farmers build economically viable, diversified farms, sustainable agricultural landscapes, and durable ways to sell what they grow. The project improved cacao production, introduced complementary crops such as plantain and Tabasco peppers, and strengthened farmer associations, working directly with buyers to open reliable markets for their cacao.

Partners worked with more than 5,300 farmers through regular farm visits and field days, and a group of about 1,100 farmers tracked from 2023 to 2024 saw their cacao yields rise 22%. Partners also signed partnerships with Colombia’s leading chocolate makers, including Compañía Nacional de Chocolates, Luker, and Cacao Hunters. These buyers purchased more than 6,400 tons of cacao from 48 farmer associations and extended about $15 million in credit to 23 of them. Associations also reached US buyers, including a cacao shipment to Cargill and sales to Guittard Chocolate Company. Nearly 4,800 farmers gained weather-based crop insurance, which paid out more than $800,000 to farmers hit by drought or heavy rain. The project demonstrates Partners’ ability to manage a large-scale value-chain program that links smallholders to domestic and international buyers. Today, 30 farmer associations hold their own crop insurance policies, renewing coverage for 875 farmers, and a digital map of participating farms remains available for future work.

Demand for animal protein in Nigeria, a country of more than 230 million people, is outpacing what local poultry and fish farms can supply. To address this challenge, the US Department of Agriculture is funding a project through its Food for Progress program. Implemented by Partners of the Americas, the project works with farmers, buyers, service providers, lenders, and regulators to improve the poultry and aquaculture market system. Partners of the Americas strengthens training systems, expands financial inclusion, and promotes the adoption of innovative technologies. Food for Progress Nigeria additionally works to increase trade opportunities for US and international agricultural technologies and inputs that improve aquaculture and poultry production. The project’s target regions are Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Edo, and Abuja.

The project is expected to increase productivity and incomes for 6,000 producers, increase access to finance, and create more jobs across poultry and aquaculture value chains. Partners of the Americas builds lasting capacity in local institutions at the market systems level so that interventions outlast the project.