USAID Yidgiri Increases Access to High-Quality Poultry Feed and Chicks for the SONGVENESE Union

This article was originally published on Agrilinks on March 26, 2024. 

Poultry farming provides income, nutrition and employment for many households in Burkina Faso. Today, approximately one million smallholder producers, and up to 400 specialized, high-capacity producers, make up the country’s poultry sector. Despite this, the industry still faces challenges such as a lack of adequate hygiene practices, weak market linkages for poultry products and an inconsistent supply of feed and day-old chicks.

To address these constraints, producers in Sanmatenga Province established the SONGVENESE union in 2004 to collectively increase returns on the sale of poultry feed and chicks. As they continued their efforts to grow and meet the needs of local producers in the province, the union, which currently has 368 members, partnered with the Feed the Future-funded USAID Yidgiri Activity in 2023. The partnership supports SONGVENESE to access training resources and critical equipment for the production of high-quality chicks and feed.

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Mike Espy, Chair of CNFA’s Board of Directors, has been appointed as a member of the 2023-24 Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, advising and supporting the Bank to increase American export competitiveness and support U.S. jobs.

The Congressionally-established Advisory Committee advises EXIM on its policies and programs, in particular on the extent to which EXIM provides competitive financing to support American jobs through exports. As a committee member, Espy will focus on agriculture, drawing on his experience as an agricultural advisor, secretary of agriculture during the Clinton administration and member of Congress representing Mississippi’s second congressional district.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is the nation’s official export credit agency with the mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating U.S. exports. Comprised of 17 members and appointed by the Board of Directors, the committee includes representatives of environment, production, commerce, finance, agriculture, labor, services, state government and the textile industry.

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This blog was originally published by USAID/Mali on Exposure on May 31, 2023.

Diakité Mariam Diarra is a food processing entrepreneur from Koutiala, Mali, who grew up helping her mother produce and sell home-made natural juices. “I decided to continue my mother’s passion for food processing,” says Diarra “but, my experience remained basic until 2014 when I first received training from the Support Fund for Vocational Training and Apprenticeship.”

She leveraged what she learned to expand her local marketing, begin sending products to Mali’s capital, Bamako, and to explore export opportunities through the International Fair for Agriculture and Animal Resources (FIARA) in the neighboring country of Senegal. 

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Burkina Faso is the second largest producer of livestock in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, but producers often are unable to reap the benefits of the country’s large meat market due to low-weight cattle, sheep and goats. The Feed the Future-funded USAID Yidgiri Activity implemented by CNFA is working to change this through a collaboration with ReCom, a network of communicators who reach remote livestock producers with information on quality fodder, efficient feeding techniques, and information about disease prevention that help increase productivity.

Read the newsletter here. More information about our ReCom approach can be found here.

AgriPulse/Farm Hands on the Potomac: Wise joins EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program 

Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture, an international ag development organization, has selected Mike Espy as the new chair of the CNFA Board of Directors. Espy served as secretary of agriculture during the Clinton administration and before that was a member of Congress representing Mississippi’s second congressional district. Espy succeeds Elin Miller, who will continue to serve as a member of the CNFA Board.

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WLBT News: Mike Espy to chair international agricultural development organization

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WLBT) – A familiar face has been tapped to chair an international agricultural development organization working to ensuring people across the globe have plenty to eat. Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture has appointed Mike Espy as chair of the CNFA Board of Directors.

Espy, a former U.S. representative and Secretary of Agriculture under former President Bill Clinton, was voted into the position with the unanimous support of the board, according to a CNFA news release.

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This blog was originally published by USAID/Mali on Exposure on November 8, 2022.

Timothy Coulibaly is a maize, millet, and peanut producer in Farakala, Mali. In 2021, when Feed the Future Mali Sugu Yiriwa began to collaborate with his village, Coulibaly was selected to work as a community focal point, helping Sugu Yiriwa provide technical support to local farmers, producers, and entrepreneurs.

So far, Sugu Yiriwa has trained over 200 development leaders like Coulibaly to assist their communities in exchanging agricultural best practices in the Sikasso region. Through their training, these community champions elevate local voices, share knowledge with agricultural stakeholders, ensure that context-specific needs are addressed, and help develop locally-driven solutions.

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This article was originally published in DTN/Progressive Farmer on October 24, 2022.

DES MOINES (DTN) — Despite “dire headlines” about global food security, the “weaponizing of food” and the impact of weather disasters on agriculture, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack sought to end the World Food Prize forum looking for an upbeat theme going forward.

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This article was originally published in The New Times on March 30, 2022.

The USAID-funded Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze Activity (Hinga Weze) is concluding its five-year, $32.6 million initiative to alleviate rural poverty and malnutrition across the Rwandan districts of Gatsibo, Kayonza, Bugesera, Ngoma, Nyabihu, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Nyamasheke, Karongi, and Nyamagabe.

Producers in these districts, which are known for low agricultural productivity due to poor weather and use of agricultural practices, saw low productivity and increased rates of food insecurity.

But today, “farmers are producing more and earning more money,” said Laurence Mukamana, Hinga Weze Chief of Party.

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