Monthly Feed the Future Report: USAID Cereal Value Chain Project (AID-688-C-13-00002), July 2014 Report

The project's main objective is to improve the productivity and income of smallholder farmers in the cereal value chain. To achieve this goal, the project focuses on three key areas: improving agricultural productivity, enhancing market access, and increasing farmers' income. In July 2014, the project signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Food Programme (WFP) to facilitate the purchase of rice, millet, and sorghum directly from farmer organizations. This partnership aims to increase the WFP's procurement of cereals from over 32,000 hectares in Feed the Future communes in the Sikasso and Mopti regions, benefiting over 600 farmer organizations. The WFP issued a commitment letter for the procurement of 1,200 tons of white rice with the Fédération Développement Rural of Youwarou in Mopti. The project held its Year 2 work planning workshop from June 24-26, 2014, attended by approximately 50 participants from the USAID CVC project team and IOS Partners. The workshop aimed to compile a draft work plan, which will be finalized by the teams in August 2014. To enable extension agents to quickly contact over 600 cooperatives involved in the project activities, the project technical team developed a diagnostic tool in July to assess the capacities of the targeted cooperatives through interviews. The project signed contracts with the Centre de Recherche Regionale Agronomique of Sikasso, Direction Régionale de l'Agriculture of Sikasso and Mopti, and Office du Riz Mopti for the large-scale diffusion of technology. These contracts aim to strengthen the technical skills of extension agents and farmers on improved production techniques of sorghum and millet. The project also hired a consultant to develop a framework for Producer Organizations (POs) to access fertilizer credit from the Banque Nationale de Développement Agricole (BNDA). ICRISAT trained CVC Sikasso field staff in sorghum and millet technologies, improved seeds, and good agricultural practices. The training aimed to strengthen the technical skills of CVC Sikasso on improved production techniques of sorghum and millet. A total of 21 project field staff was trained on the varieties, namely sorghum hybrids, millet, improved seeds, fertilizers recommended doses, isohyets production, adaptation issues varieties, and production techniques. The project also obtained approval from USAID/Mali to purchase 30 motorbikes and additional IT equipment to facilitate the implementation of field activities, including the scale-up of activities. The delivery of all equipment to the regional offices in Sikasso and Mopti took place in mid-July. Additionally, the project received an additional four-wheel vehicle from the former USAID/Mali MAVEN program. The project conducted a field visit with women's organizations in the lowland areas in the Feed the Future intervention zones to identify and integrate women's organizations into the project's targeted market channels.