With 27 percent arable land and no permanent crops, the West Bank and Gaza suffer from periodic food insecurity. Using proceeds derived from the monetization of commodity donated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ACDI/VOCA funds drought relief and agricultural training activities for Palestinian farmers and pastoralists.
The ACDI/VOCA program in the West Bank and Gaza works with agricultural communities to mitigate the devastating effects of recent drought and reduce the risk of future drought loss. Under the project, the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) distributed emergency coupon subsidies and feed. From November 2001 to January 2002, the ministry distributed a total of 13,453 out of 13,582 subsidy coupons, supporting 912,000 sheep and goats in 12 districts. ACDI/VOCA reimbursed feed/fodder suppliers for 13,303 coupons totaling approximately $1.2 million. The feed subsidy program also served to strengthen cooperation between the extension service and MOA district offices, and provided economic stimulus to the livestock sector.
ACDI/VOCA is also working with at-risk agricultural communities to improve local community preparedness and response capability to drought events through the build-up of water catchment and collection structures, improved community awareness and water conservation education. To build capacity among rural inhabitants to better manage scarce water resources, PARC held training workshops for women, as well as students on water awareness and conservation, benefiting 1,098 participants. PHG held 60 workshops and conducted 49 home visits for 500 women, visited 27 schools to conduct awareness campaigns for 450 male and 455 female youth and held 20 workshops benefiting 130 men. These training workshops complement the building of water catchment structures in many of the localities where rainwater harvesting is carried out and an important source of water for irrigation.
In Gaza, ACDI/VOCA worked with World Vision to complete the construction of 36 agricultural ponds, and also led in projects to rehabilitate wells and conduct training workshops covering the following topics:
- strategies for reducing water consumption,
- maintenance of irrigation networks,
- water efficient irrigation systems and
- crop diversification
Alex Gebrehiwot
agebrehiwot@acdivoca.org
Feb 2001 - Dec 2001
Location
When it was launched in September 2004, the India Growth-Oriented Microenterprise Development Program (GMED) was USAID’s first enterprise development project in India. A 4-year, $6.3 million program funded under the Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project (AMAP), GMED was an innovative program that developed sustainable and scalable approaches to job creation in agriculture by fostering the growth of micro and small enterprises (MSEs).
GMED’s components included agribusiness and urban services. The agribusiness component focused on fruits and vegetables, organically certified food products, maize value chain improvement, and the integration of HIV/AIDS-affected communities into commercial supply chains. The urban services component worked to improve municipal solid waste management through outsourcing to MSEs. GMED was solely a technical service program and had no grant or subsidy component, making it unique for a donor project.
Strengthening the Value Chain through Partnerships and Technology
GMED adopted a value chain approach to enterprise development following the principle that the growth of micro and small enterprises must be driven by sustainable growth strategies for all of the firms in a value chain. ACDI/VOCA developed partnerships with larger firms and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which then provide embedded business development services to associated MSEs as an integral part of their commercial transactions. Thus, GMED was a service facilitator, rather than a service provider. The ultimate goal of the project was to enhance MSE growth opportunities by expanding the scope of the embedded services being provided by corporate and NGO partners, helping to make them more effective.
Addressing Opportunities and Challenges
- GMED, with two partner NGOs, organized and obtained organic certification for several thousand small, marginal, mostly women farmers. It also helped to effectively market and export these organically certified products.
- GMED helped several major Indian corporations and larger NGOs integrate smallholder farmers into commercial supply chains by increasing their capacity to meet market demand. Growing demand represented significant potential for smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers, who account for the great majority of fruit and vegetable production in India—provided that these farmers can gain the ability to produce to market specifications. GMED helped two of its principle corporate partners establish three model smallholder vegetable farmer production bases to illustrate the measures required to accomplish this.
- In addition, ACDI/VOCA pioneered the Village Extension Agent model to expand the availability of private agricultural extension services at reduced cost while providing employable skills to local youth. 18 under-employed farm youth from within a vegetable production cluster were recruited, trained in the rudiments of crop, soil, water and pest management and stationed in their home village. The village agents, who spoke the local dialect and were acquainted with the village farmers, were trained provide solutions to less complex farming problems and could call on professional agents whose work they supplemented.
ACDI/VOCA and GMED demonstrated commercially viable solutions to MSE growth constraints through development of these models, inspiring other industry participants to adopt them. This bodes well for the sustainability and scalability of GMED efforts, benefiting SMEs and the industries involved through enhanced competitiveness and greater growth opportunities in India.
Alex Pavlovic
apavlovic@acdivoca.org
Sept 2004 - Sept 2008
