Agricultural Issues in Transition From
Relief to Development
Presented at the
Association For International Agriculture
And Rural Development 40th Annual
Meeting
Washington DC, June 6-7, 2004
Ben Hoskins (bhoskins@worldvision.org)
Claude Nankam, PhD (cnankam@worldvision.org)
World Vision, Inc (www.worldvision.org)
1. Introduction – World Vision (WV)
2. Agricultural relief interventions
3. Transitioning from Relief to
Development
4. Lessons Learned
• 1950: Charity for children in Korea
• Largest relief and development NGO in the
world with $1 billion in public and private
funds
• Christian organization with 15 support offices
and 65 national offices
• 25 in Africa
• 15 in Asia and The Pacific
• 11 in Europe and The Middle East
• 14 in The Americas and The Caribbean
Presence in West Africa
• Chad (civil war and drought)
• Ghana
• Liberia (civil war)
• Mali (drought)
• Mauritania (drought)
• Niger (drought)
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone (civil war)
-Food Security
-Education
-Environment
-Shelter
Community
Christian Witness
-Deeds
-Fellowship
-Community Mobilization
- Capacity Building
-Empowering women and
girl children
- Peace-Building - Gender
-Reconciliation - Advocacy
Precondition for WV Agricultural Intervention
•Crisis affects significant
number of population
•Financial resources and
consideration for longterm presence drive
decision to intervene
•Reasonable level of
security
•Population sedentary
and water available
Strategies in WV agricultural relief interventions
•Work with donor and
the country’s MOA
•Intervene as quickly as
possible
•Incorporate
development principles
to the extent possible
•Collaborate with
existing institutions on
the ground (other NGOs,
UN, NARs, IARCs, etc)
Types of Agricultural
Interventions
Seeds and Tools
1. Non availability of seeds
•
Conventional seed
distribution
•
Farmers’ selected
varieties
2. Lack of access to seeds
•
Seed vouchers and
fairs
Types of Agricultural Interventions
In relief context
Agriculture Package
(AgPack)
•
Tools: 2 hoes, 2cutlass and a
file
•
Seeds: Seeds of “adapted”
varieties of staple crops
purchased locally or from
seed companies outside the
country
•
Seedlings of fruit trees
Types of Agricultural Interventions
In relief context
Vegetable Package
(VegPack)
•
Tools: Watering can
•
Seeds of “adapted” varieties
of vegetable crops such as
tomato, pumpkins, kale,
onions, okra, cabbage, etc.
Note: Limited to no indigenous
vegetable crops
Types of Agricultural Interventions
In relief context
Farming practices
•
Establishment of
vegetable nurseries
•
Homestead
gardening
•
Land preparation
•
Seeding rates and
planting techniques
Farmers’ selected varieties
•Access improved varieties
from IARCs (IITA, WARDA,
ICRISAT, CIMMYT, CIAT,
etc.)
•Establish on-farm trials:
Farmers testing improved
varieties under their farming
conditions, against their local
varieties
•Selection criteria: amount of
harvest, cooking time,
palatability
Transitioning from Relief to Development
Agriculture Recovery Program (ARP)
•Seed Security
•Rehabilitation of farmers seed stocks
•Activities of FSVs are foundational
•Development/strengthening of informal seed
systems (Small Scale Seed Production Systems)
•Improved Farming Systems
Transitioning from Relief to Development
Agriculture Recovery Program (ARP)
• Improved Farming Systems
Four Pillars:
1.
Production and productivity
2. Storage and processing
3. Agriculture Marketing
4. Natural resources management
Improved Farming Systems
1. Productivity & Production
Soil Fertility:
•Organic Fertilizers
•Green Manures
•Improved Fallow
•Fuddu, Senegal
•Zambia
Improved Varieties:
• Varieties tolerant to stress
pest and diseases (drought,
low N, MSV, Stem borer, and
Striga)
Improved nutritional
value – HarvestPlus
Yellow QPM
varieties
White QPM
•QPM (Obatamba)
•Orange flesh sweet potato
•Yellow cassava
Improved techniques:
•“True” potato seed
•Rapid multiplication techniques of sweet potato and
cassava
•Madagascar SRI (System of Rice Intensification)
Indigenous Crops: ICRAF work on some 50
wild fruit trees species; e.g. Ziziphus mauritiana
•Moringa oleifera for its nutritional value and its
use as coagulant for the purification of water
IPALAC work with dry land trees such as date
palm, acacia spp., etc. for improved food security
Storage
•Granaries
•Storage of fresh fruits and
vegetables
Granary in Northern Ghana
Farm Tools:
•Hand Planters
•Ox Plow
•Treadle pump
• Drip irrigation
•Etc.
Processing
Cleaning and packaging of vegetables
for export at the Usuthu farm in
Swaziland
Oil press used for the extraction of oil
from oil seeds such as sunflower and
sesame
-Cassava processing technologies –
IITA/CIAT, Rosafric
-Sweet potato processing
technologies – CIP
-Solar dryers for fruits and
vegetables
Natural Resources Management
-Erosion control on hillsides
and slopes
-Watershed management
-Soil and water conservation
(cover crops)
-Tree planting (fruit trees)
Lessons Learned
Positive aspects
•Emergency situations break down institutional
barriers to agricultural technology transfer. However
if technology is not appropriate, it will be quickly
rejected by farmers.
•An integrated approach to emergency response, with
a developmental vision from day one and transition to
more sustainable activities as quickly as the operating
environment allows, is an effective strategy to restore
food security rapidly.
Lessons Learned
Positive aspects (cont’d)
•A participatory approach, with farmers heavily
involved in the process from the beginning, helps
ensure high rates of adoption of new technology,
program efficiency and a transition to longer-term
development.
•Organizing farmers in groups/associations speeds up
the dissemination of new technologies
•Agriculture is farmers economic activity and it is
important that their production decisions are made
based on market opportunities
Lessons Learned
Positive aspects (cont’d)
•Partnership among different organizations, each
playing the role to which it is best suited, adds value:
the host country government provides for overall
coordination, IARCs/NARs provide candidate
varieties, seed companies provide seed and packaging
services, farmers screen varieties and provide feedback
on which are best, NGOs facilitate the process.
•Successful revitalization of the rural economy not
only reduces rural exodus, but can even lead to
immigration from urban areas (e.g. Fuddu ADP, in
Senegal)
Lessons Learned
Issues and constraints
•Adequacy of public funding to support transition
from relief to development
•Limited funding for agriculture:
•Less funding allocated to agriculture programs
and R&D – reduced USAID presence in West
Africa and Millennium Challenge Program not
emphasizing agriculture
Issues and constraints (cont’d)
•Poverty is the underpinning cause of food insecurity,
which in turn results in hunger. The situation would be
improved tremendously if avenues to make business
development services (BDS) and micro-finance
accessible to small holder farmers were identified.
•Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) can reach only a very
minute portion of the rural population in need of
HIV/AIDS treatment. Yet there is limited research
being done on alternative treatment, mostly on
indigenous plants such as the African potato (Hypoxis
hemerocalidea) known to prolong tremendously the
lives of HIV positive patients, by boost their immune
systems
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