ALBANIA - Support for the development of agricultural economy in mountainous areas
The support programme for the development of agricultural economy in mountainous areas aims at:
- initiating and supporting the organisation of producers to lift major constraints, especially in arboriculture,
- improving access to agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilisers… ) and to means of production (equipment, irrigation…),
- creating benchmarks on production techniques,
- improving the commercialisation and processing of agricultural products.
(FRENCH ONLY)
ALBANIA – Setting up of strategic plan of the sustainable development of Voskopojë town
This project aims to build with local and regional actors long-lasting and concerted solutions to raise, develop and structure a local development capacity, main driving force of sustainable development of a territory.
It concerns two areas:
- The development of profitable and quality agriculture (introduction of new technologies, development of irrigation, of mechanisation, offer gathering, labels creation, etc.)
- Restoration/ valorisation of historical and cultural patrimony, to facilitate the development of sustainable tourism (activities related to agrotourism).
(FRENCH ONLY)
BELARUS - Rehabilitation and economical development of rural areas contaminated by the Chernobyl accident
Pressing on with the approach previously developed in the frame of a pilot experimental action on potato production improvement, today FERT is monitoring a programme which is broader as much from a geographical point of view as from that of the array of the fields of intervention involved, so as to outline an enlarged process of development for contaminated lands in the districts of Stolin, Bragin and Slavgorod.
The specific goals are:
- Income increase and improvement of quality (especially radiological) by the reinforcement of technical and economical skills of producers and by a support to their individual initiatives,
- Organisation of upstream (supply, credits…) or downstream (transportation, products stocking, marketing…) functions necessary for the development of private ariculture,
- Definition and set up of actions and local development strategies able to combine into synergy the different actors of agricultural and rural economy, with a better involvement of all private and public actors.
(FRENCH ONLY)
BRAZIL/ Minas Geraïs - Support to agricultural organisations in the quality process
Operating in the State of Minas GeraPis since 1993, FERT oriented its actions to the organisation of producers in a process of products quality improvement. The program conerns three sectors: raw milk cheese, potato, fruits and vegetables.
The operating method relies on the involvement of agricultural professionals and public services representatives, French and Brazilian, in the context of private-public partnerships that fund FERT and its Brazilian partner AGRIFERT approach.
Since 2007set up actions have been mainly turning toward two axes:
- Support to organisation of producers for the quality improvement and the origin certification of raw milk mountain cheese and of Inhapim taro,
- Development of the potato line by promoting varieties for cooking uses through a market segmentation.
(FRENCH ONLY)
BRAZIL/Parana - Support to UNILEITE for the professionalisation of dairy family farms
In 1992, FERT initiated in partnership with IRCOD a project of support to technical service of dairy cooperatives in South West Parana. It aimed the structuration of dairy line and improvement of stockbreeding, milk collect and transformation technologies.
In this context has been set up an innovating methodology for PArana and Brazil in general: from an individual support to producers, it consists in animating a group dynamic based on the analysis of technical and economical data, that allows results discussion between producers and technicians.
Today, in the base of previous gains, it consists in promoting an association (UNILEITE) with real decision and line orientation power, and in supporting this association until its managerial and financial autonomy, by favouring the development of direct partnerships with regional cooperatives.
(FRENCH ONLY)
BURKINA FASO - Reinforcement of the role of Sanmatenga producers in the niebe sector
The recent engagement of FERT in Burkina Faso (2007), with the partnership of ACCIR, consists in the support of niebe producers of Sanmatenga, in the North-East of Ouagadougou.
These producers are organised within a union to value the cultivation and sale of niebe, a bean demanded in the market of the region and well adapted to agro-climatic conditions of the area, at the Sahelian border, where duration and intensity of the rain season are regularly decreasing.
(FRENCH ONLY)
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - Local development and professional training in the North of Kivu
In spite of a disastrous economical and political situation, the University of Butembo in the North of Kivu has been mobilizing itself for about ten years to contribute to the development of the populations of the neighbouring Territories: Beni and Lubero.
With FERT’s the technical and financial assistance, the Training and Animation Centre for Solidarity Development – CEFADES – leaning against the University, goes with the initiatives of farmers groups about agriculture, stockbreeding, housing conditions, villages modernization. The CEFADES has also started in 2006 an activity of professional training to transmit skills to rural populations wishing to improve or change their practices: training in, agriculture and in manual jobs. In this way the CEFADES contributes to the recovery of economical developemen in North Kivu and to the integration of young demobilized and jobless soldiers.
(FRENCH ONLY)
MADAGASCAR - Support to a expanding federative movement (FIFATA)
In Madagascar 70% of the population lives from agriculture. To be heard by State’s services and to exist in the political and economical game, farmers need strong and representative organisations.
The top association FIFATA (Fikambanana Fampivoarana ny Tantsaha ou Association for the Progress of Farmers) has been one of the first farmers organisations to be created in Madagascar in 1989.
FIFATA, its regional federations and its directs members, it is altogether 108 000 members spread over 10 regions, one newspaper (ITV), various services (training, information, land (estate) mediation, etc.) and a voice that carries in Madagascar.
(FRENCH ONLY)
MADAGASCAR - Basic training in agriculture
In 2002 FIFATA, supported by FERT, decided that basic training in agriculture would become a major line of its activities. Farmers want to offer to their children the means to be professionally educated in agriculture.
Convinced by the limits of traditional training, FERT and FIFATA, with the pedagogic support of the CNEAP, favoured the creation of colleges in agriculture, bringing changes and allowing an adaptation to the rapid evolution of socioeconomic environment.
(FRENCH ONLY)
MADAGASCAR - The CEFFEL (Center for Experimentation and Education in Fruits and Vegetables) to accompany the organisation of the fruits and vegetables line
Considering that fruits and vegetable productions can offer interesting opportunities to many producers looking for diversification, the aims of the CEFFEL are:
- taking part to the work of structuration of the fruit and vegetable line,
- helping the emergence of quality producing projects and making progress concerning organisation of production and markets,
- becoming a high-performance tool to offer quality trainings, build technical and economical recognized references,
- offering quickly markets news , to give to farmers organisations and their members the ability to build their diversification projects in fruit and vegetable production.
(FRENCH ONLY)
MADAGASCAR - Development of the dairy line with the support to ROVA (Union of dairy cooperatives of Vakinankaratra)
More than 80% of dairy production in Madagascar comes from Vakinankaratra region. A producers organisation has been created in 1987, from the initiative of stockbreeders of Vakinankaratra, so they could together overcome the difficulties: low technical performance, weakness of producers facing dairy industries, etc.
Transformed in an Union of cooperatives in 2002, ROVA groups together 18 cooperatives (about 300 stockbreeders) spread over a 100 km radius around Antsirabe.
FERT has been supporting ROVA in its development since 1999 for a professionalisation of the dairy stockbreeder job.
(FRENCH ONLY)
THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN- Animation of Mediterranean Large Scale Cultivation Network and reinforcement of capacities of base groups for the promotion of conservation agriculture
The Mediterranean Large-Scale Cultivation Network (MLSCN or RCM) of a network of applied research, regrouping 8 countries (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Spain, Portugal, France and Bulgaria) and aiming at drawing farmer and researcher together through programmes of reference acquisition and of technical skill transfers, leaning on the participation of “Pilot Groups of Farmers”.
(FRENCH ONLY)
MOROCCO - Cooperative and valorisation of quality wheat
Cereals production is an essential activity for Moroccan farmers and a strategic sector for the country. From agro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions, Morocco is structurally in deficit, especially in tender wheat and hard wheat for human food. The maintenance or even the survival of rural populations partly depends on their ability to organise themselves to produce more wheat and to improve its quality, so to increase their incomes.
Leaning on base groups of farmers and on cooperatives of two cereals producing areas, it consists in setting up production systems, as well as terms of collect, stocking and marketing of quality cereals, that could be sold by contracting with buyers (cooperative or private) involved in the process.
(FRENCH ONLY)
TANZANIA - Rural markets, an innovating initiative to improve the marketing conditions of agricultural produces
The main objective of the Rural Markets Development Project in Morogoro and Kongwa Districts (RMDP, 2002-2005) was to support and organise four bulk markets located in major production areas that supply food to the major urban areas of the country: one maize market in Kongwa and three fruits & vegetables markets in Morogoro.
In 2006 started a new step of the FERT-MVIWATA collaboration. A new program has started, with the aim of increasing and widening the impact through (i) the building of two new rural markets and (ii) the organisation of producers at the various steps of the commodity chain: production, market information systems, etc.
(FRENCH ONLY)
TANZANIA - USAWA, a network of credit and savings cooperative banks in Kilimanjaro region
The objective of the support programme for the development of financial services in rural areas is to promote savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOS) administered by the farmers, capable of providing financial services in rural areas, and of becoming autonomous in the mid-term run.
The actions that have been undertaken since 2001 in the region of Kilimanjaro consist in particular in adapting the SACCOS to the constraints of the financial activity they are in charge of administering:
- the implementation of more efficient devices of management and control,
- the development of financial services adapted to the needs of farmers,
- the reinforcement of elected representatives and technicians abilities to manage and develop their activity.
These actions lead in 2006 to the creation of a regional financial institution, USAWA KILIMANJARO LIMITED, that supports the SACCOS and raises the external resources to increase their portfolio.
(FRENCH ONLY)
