Progress on the US Feed the Future Initiative

Feed the future third progress report (pdf, 13mb)
about Feed the Future's results in fiscal year 2013.
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Date of publication: May 2014, 36 pages

Over the past year, Feed the Future and the New Alliance have been working with USAID Missions and country, donor and private sector partners to develop evidence-based scaling targets and pathways for scaling technologies and programs, including significant policy reforms, improved finance, and enhanced communication and extension around specific technologies, that will help countries meet the objectives set out in their national agricultural plans.

Building from a strong base of research results and value chain programs in Feed the Future Missions, FF has plans to scale drought-tolerant maize, orange-fleshed sweet potato, improved legumes and horticultural commodities, and soil fertility technologies in strong collaboration with country, donor, NGO and private sector partners.

Feed the Future-funded research with U.S. universities and developing country partners has also produced biological control technologies that protect crops, minimize the need for costly pesticides and increase profits and environmental sustainability.

Private Sector Collaboration
Last year, Feed the Future assistance created 1,175 public-private partnerships, up from 660 the previous year; more than 80 percent involved local small and medium-sized firms, including farmer-owned businesses. These strategic alliances foster private sector-led growth in emerging markets by commercializing new technologies; helping create enabling policy environments; increasing opportunities for investment, finance and risk mitigation; and improving market access and trade.

• For example, Feed the Future collaborates with Partners in Food Solutions, a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minn., that taps the technical and business expertise of volunteer employees from General Mills, Cargill, Royal DSM and Bühler to provide customized technical assistance on food processing in Malawi, Kenya and Zambia. In 2013, it provided technical assistance to 24 food processors. It also offered processors 88 capacity building projects and trained 315 technicians from 106 firms at seven sector-wide courses on identified industry knowledge gaps. Support for business and financial management training from the U.S. African Development Foundation helped small entrepreneurs in Kenya and other countries to expand their enterprises.
• In Uganda, the initiative partners with Ecom Agroindustrial Corporation Ltd and AgroWays Ltd to link coffee and maize producers to competitive markets. Feed the Future investments help promote sound agricultural practices and aggregation while private sector partners invest in value-added processing facilities. These partnerships leverage nearly $11 million in private sector resources.
• In 2012, Guts Agro Industry, a local Ethiopian company, committed to sourcing an additional 30,000 metric tons of chickpeas from local farmers under the New Alliance. Since then, the company has developed three new nutritious chickpea products, including a ready-to-use supplementary food to treat undernutrition through an innovative partnership that includes the Government of Ethiopia, the World Food Program and the PepsiCo Foundation. Through a U.S. Government-facilitated partnership with chickpea producers, the company is now sourcing from 10,000 smallholder farmers with plots of less than one hectare on average. Over the next two years, that number of sources will grow to a total of 52,000 smallholders. Farmers adopting the kabuli variety of chickpea have seen up to a doubling of yields and are receiving higher prices for their product at market.

GAFSP’s Private Sector Window
GAFSP’s Private Sector Window provides a mix of loans, credit guarantees and equity to support small- and medium-sized enterprises in the agriculture sector. The Private Sector Window invested $45 million and provided an additional $4 million in advisory services support for agribusinesses in 14 countries. Projects include investments in dairy and fruit juice processing facilities in East Africa, partnerships with commercial banks in Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire to provide farmers with warehouse financing and agricultural loans. Altogether, GAFSP’s investments have attracted more than 10 times that amount in additional private financing.

Published on 30 May 2014

Tanzanian students study at some of the top universities in the United States through the Innovative Agricultural Research Initiative (or iAGRI). They also conduct research to help make Tanzania food security and prosperous.

Published on 30 May 2014 Anna Gaye explains how she and her farming group have boosted their yields and businesses with new rice and time-saving technology. Feed the Future helps provide farmers like Anna with choices on which technologies they can use to boost food security and improve livelihoods.

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Published on 3 Jun 2014

SID-Washington Annual Conference - Panel 2 - Feed the Future 2.0 -- How to Improve on a Good Idea

Investments to address hunger, food security, and nutrition are critical. Some aspects of Feed the Future (FtF) have been exemplary. How can it be made more effective and extend further? How can it be inclusive of youth and gender- conscious? Can it assist people living in stressed or isolated environments, small land holders, and those with water and property rights issues? 

Moderator: Margie Brand, Market and Enterprise Development Consultant and Executive Director, EcoVentures International Speakers: Chris Cochran, Senior Manager, Sustainability, Walmart Foundation Paul Guenette, Executive Vice President, Communications and Outreach, ACDI/VOCA Tom Schaetzel, Senior Advisor, Nutrition & Agriculture, The Manoff Group Leads: Jeffrey L. Gray and Gabriel Laizer, Food Security and Agriculture Workgroup Co-Chairs, SID-Washington