The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

the Foreign Service journal | may 2016 63 important, are the following: k Good things and results take lots of time. Case 3 was the third in succession of a 10-year linked effort of project activities. We know that in the United States significant time is required for farmers to accept and use modern farm manage- ment practices. Both American and African farmers follow the simple adage: “Don’t tell me. Show me.” k Many African farmers have problems accessing needed inputs and using them correctly. Donors need to recognize that growing products under forward-contracting arrange- ments must involve the buyer in providing a minimum list of farm inputs and guidance from a skilled agronomist or horti- culturist. After that, just leave the farmers alone to get to work. k African farmers can readily adapt sophisticated agro- nomic and horticultural practices (if they are convinced they work) to local constraints and conditions. All the donors and experts have to do is listen and learn and adopt and demon- strate. k Women represent the majority contributors to the agri- culture production and marketing process. No project large or small should ever be undertaken without the full participation of women. k For larger efforts (such as the Egypt project), helping the farmers create community-based farmer organizations should be a top priority. These associations must be created by the farmers themselves (with assistance from donors, as invited). k In any project, we need to find the master farmers and involve them directly in developing the technical approach for adoption in cropping activities. k USAID, and other aid agencies as well, should investi- gate the use of non-project assistance where warranted. Our strategy was based on the assumption that American agribusinesses and agribusiness trade associations offer pow- erful tools and capability to assist rural poor farmers overseas. Subsequent project implementation, as presented here, not only proves that to be true but offers insight on how to make best use of those tools and capabilities. We learned, for instance, that it is optimal to involve agribusiness and trade associations as early as possible in the project, preferably in the design phase. We also learned that donor funding for the creation of local farmer associations is tremendously beneficial; such associations empower the farmers to efficiently organize production and marketing of the product. And, finally, we found that keeping a project run- ning long enough to give it a chance to succeed—10 years at a minimum, if not longer—is essential. n