The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

62 may 2016 | the foreign Service journal that the germination rate for the Arusha-grown seed exceeded 85 percent—an unprecedented figure for the company. Case Study 3: Egyptian Farmers Forward Contract with European Buyers to Grow and Export Specialty Products The Setting. This case involved a large USAID four-year, $11 million agriculture project awarded to CARE/Egypt in 2003. The objective was to develop private, service-oriented, independent smallholder farmer associations for the export of high-value crops to Europe under forward contracts, like similar projects undertaken by CARE dating from the early 1990s. The project was undertaken in Upper Egypt where unemployment was high and incomes were low. At the time, the region had 37 percent of the country’s total population but 77 percent of its poorest citizens (UNDP Egypt Human Development Report, 2005). I was team leader for a five-person team fielded in 2007 to perform the final evaluation of this project. The Case. Prior cropping emphasis and patterns in Upper Egypt had depended almost solely on growing sugarcane. When introduced, this project raised the usage of labor to unprecedented levels. Growing green beans and tomatoes took more than three times as much labor as sugarcane; and canta- loupe, more than two times. The total returns for raising green beans, cantaloupe and tomato were 50 percent higher than returns from sugarcane. Facilitating payment to individual farmers was a very impor- tant factor in this project. The buyer made only one direct payment to a single farmer association, which then dispensed the funds to the individual growers. In addition, through the training and technical assistance provided by CARE staff to the associations, they carefully noted price movements and were increasingly able to use their own information resources to find alternate local markets for products that were not exported. The Results. This project more than paid for itself. Millions of dollars of high-value crops were grown and exported (i.e., French green beans, cantaloupes, table grapes, pomegran- ates and bell peppers), increasing the incomes of 12,500 poor farmers. The formation of 103 farmer associations was the culmination of village-level efforts by the farmers themselves. Thousands of new jobs were also created for women and land- less farmers. Over the life of the project, more than 160 million Egyptian Pounds (or $27 million) worth of products were grown—$16 million more than the project cost the United States. Of this, $13 million was exported—over 30 percent more than projected— while, unexpectedly, $14 million was sold on the local market. One of the truly impressive outcomes was the unanticipated impact of the project on rural women linked to the farmer associations’ members through family relationships. Hundreds of women became directly involved in post-harvest pick- ing, cleaning, boxing/bag- ging, weighing and storage of products for transport. A final result of this case that truly astounded the evaluation team was the wide acceptance and support by the government for the proj- ect, in helping the farmers develop market linkages for sale of products that significantly raised incomes and increased employment for the landless. Lessons Learned These and other projects implemented under the Africa Bureau Agribusiness Strategy yielded many valuable practi- cal lessons that are still very relevant today. Among the most One of the truly impressive outcomes was the unanticipated impact of the project on rural women. Egyptian women sort and pack green beans for export to France. COURTESYOFBARRYHILL