USAID partners private sector on agriculture.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with Chi Farms and Niji Foods, has launched two new agribusiness partnerships Mission Director of USAID Nigeria, Michael T. Harvey, said: “With Nigeria’s increasing population, these programmes are vital to achieving food security and imports,” adding: “Public-private partnerships are a proven way of expanding investment in agriculture, improving both efficiency and productivity.” Through these partnerships, USAID aims to address development and business challenges to agricultural inputs and mechanisation by providing quality technical advisory services and expanded market opportunities for smallholder farmers.” These partnerships will also capitalize on the untapped potential of small-holder farmers and small processors to help grow agribusinesses, create secure jobs, and boost economic growth in Nigeria. According to operators of Chi Farms: “Recognising the need to increase Nigeria’s domestic fish production to meet growing demand and end reliance on imported fish, Chi Farms – under this partnership – will train 1,000 small-holder fish farmers in Lagos and Ogun States on new farming techniques, access to credit, and marketing skills to help raise incomes. Another partner in the agriculture project, Niji Foods, said that despite the volume of cassava processed in Nigeria and the commercial potential of cassava peel for livestock feed, there is virtually no commercially-available livestock feed made from cassava peel. Read Niji Foods, with the International Livestock Research Institute, and USAID support, is establishing three cassava peel processing centres to address this market gap, see Read more in the agriculture daily

A New Approach to Nutrition Programming in Northern Ghana.

A variety of potato was recently introduced to communities in Northern Ghana through a USAID project to counter Vitamin A deficiency — a condition that compromises the immune system and can lead to blindness. Last year, 439 women in 17 districts learned how to cultivate orange-fleshed sweet potatoes for the first time. Most people living in the northern region of Ghana had never seen an orange-fleshed sweet potato. Now, this brightly colored vegetable may be on its way to becoming the region’s most popular crop.The villagers lovingly call the new crop “Alafie Wuljo,” which means “healthy potato” in the local language of Dagbani. At one community’s first harvest celebration, the head of the project Philippe LeMay recalls how government officials and community leaders came to learn how to use the new crop in the kitchen. There were several cooking demonstrations, but the sweet potato fries were a hit among schoolchildren. “Now everyone wants to grow orange-fleshed sweet potatoes,” said LeMay. Encouraging farmers to plant nutritious crops is just one of several strategies employed by this project to address malnutrition in northern Ghana. Besides agriculture, we are also working on improving livelihoods; governance; nutrition; and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). These sectors are interrelated and help to achieve common goals. The project introduces new and more nutritious crops to farmers and helps them boost yields through improved farming techniques. It also links farmers to markets, helps community members create village savings and loans associations, works to improve water and sanitation infrastructure, and promotes better hygiene. Ghana is one of the first countries to put USAID’s Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy into action. The fresh approach, which will guide our work through 2025, cuts across several development areas, resulting in programs that are more cost-effective and deliver greater impact around the world. story from feed the future/sweet potato/Ghana