FOOD AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (FED) Activity Highlights for May 1 to 15, 2016

New Round of Internship for NDA Students commenced this month, with 51 agriculture students placed in international and national NGOs focused on agriculture and agribusiness development. Fifteen students were from Nimba County Community College and 36 were from Lofa County Community College. Leadership training for Future Farmers Associations was conducted by Dr. Brad Leger, a consultant with Louisiana State University, for 22 student leaders and four agriculture instructors at the Lofa and Nimba County Community Colleges. The trainings support the NDA program students and instructors and assist in developing the activities of the newly established Future Farmers Associations. The objectives of the FFAs are to support and build the capacity of young agriculture students to organize and develop leadership skills, to encourage them to choose agriculture as a career, and to find employment following completion of the NDA program. The PPR Vaccinations Campaign for goats and sheep was completed in early May with 103,239 inoculations delivered to herds and flocks across Liberia. Brac, an international NGO contracted by FED, conducted the campaign, which started in March with a target of 108,000 animal vaccinations. The completion of the project is a notable achievement in the short time frame. The third deliverable of the Brac-led PPR campaign will begin later this month with the collection of blood samples of sheep and goats vaccinated during the campaign for laboratory testing at the Ministry of Agriculture Central Veterinary Laboratory. FED has selected and reviewed the bidding process for five construction companies for the converting of the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) quarantine facility into a Nucleus Breeding Center in Bong County. The center will work to prevent inbreeding in Liberian goat herds. Talobenko won the bid and is waiting for the clearance of a pending purchase order through the MDF to start construction. FED's Goat Value Chain team began work this month with lead goat farmers on the construction of goat shelters using local materials at 78 goat-production intensification sites in Nimba, Bong, Lofa, and Grand Bassa Counties. The lead goat farmers were trained in April by the FED Goat Value Chain Specialist on goat-herd production, management, and mineral-block (salt lick) production techniques, as well as the construction of goat shelter using locally available materials. After participating in both the shelter-construction training and the actual construction process, the lead farmers will pass on the acquired knowledge to the members of their goat-producer groups. Results from a rice seed analysis received in early May showed that 32 out of 42 submitted seed samples passed the CARI seed analysis, which included testing for germination, moisture content, and seed purity. FED obtained foundation seed last year and FED-supported farmers planted them in 70 sites. The growers of these 32 samples can now be considered as producers of improved varieties. This is good news for rice-seed producers in Liberia, who will benefit from growing Ministry of Agriculture-approved varieties for sale to rice growers. FED is working to finalize four applications for Global Development Alliances (GDAs), connecting FED-supported vegetable farming groups with consistent customer bases in the private sector. Annie Baldridge, a consultant working with FED to draft the GDA applications and draw up the GDA MOUs and operating conditions, completed the first four GDAs with signatures from private-sector buyers. Two of the four applications are with upscale hotels and restaurants in Monrovia, to whom the farmers will supply high-value vegetables for a set price on a selected schedule. The other two GDAs will support large-scale processors with whom FED has supported in the past, FALAMA Inc. and the Selma Development Corporation. EDUCARE, an NGO contracted by FED, announced this month during a presentation at the FED office that it had successfully established 374 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA), bringing its work on that activity to completion. The VSLAs have proven to be a strong empowerment tool for rural farmers seeking to reinvest in themselves, particularly women farmers with very few other business options.