Monthly Report: Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East and West (IDEA-NEW)

The program's mission is to expand the licit agricultural economy in these regions by supporting agribusinesses at different points of each value chain, improving market access, increasing processing capacity, and catalyzing investments into Afghanistan's agricultural sector. IDEA-NEW's activities focus on commercial agricultural input suppliers as the leverage point for increasing yields, productivity, and quality across the target area and value chains. The program's objective is to facilitate the linkages between input suppliers and producers through targeted interventions that improve the ability of input suppliers to provide extension and training to growers, and enhance their business management, administration, and marketing capacities. In July 2014, IDEA-NEW continued project activities, signing grant agreements with eleven input suppliers and four food processors for promotional, matching, and SMS grant activities. The program also organized a Business-to-Business (B2B) meeting in Kabul for four local food processing companies and attended meetings with ABADE, ADF, and CHAMP to facilitate information sharing and avoid duplication of activities. IDEA-NEW's technical team evaluated and clarified proposals from agribusinesses, and grant agreements were signed with four companies: Prosperity Group of Companies (PGC) in Kabul, and Hussain Zada Ltd., Wajid Zaman Agriculture Company, and Bakhtar Afghan Agro Services Company in Jalalabad. The goal of these grants is to ensure that commercially sustainable agriculture information is rendered to targeted farmers in a timely, cost-effective, and efficient manner. The selected companies, including Hussain Zada Company Ltd., Wajid Zaman Agriculture Company, and Bakhtar Afghan Agro Services Company, are providers of improved vegetable seeds, agricultural inputs, pesticides, veterinary medicines, equipment, and lab instruments. They plan to expand their product/service line with seed crop management and marketing through an SMS alert system, technical brochures in Pashtu, and field demonstrations. IDEA-NEW's activities in July 2014 included PERSUAP training for input suppliers/wholesalers from Eastern and Central regions at the IDEA-NEW office in Jalalabad, and Paywast SMS information training in Kabul. The program's focus on commercial agricultural input suppliers and targeted support to input suppliers and food processors operating in the grape, orchard crop, and vegetable value chains aims to increase yields, productivity, and quality across the target area and value chains. The program's geographic focus is on the Eastern region, including Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, Kabul, Kapisa, Panjshir, and Parwan provinces. IDEA-NEW's activities are expected to contribute to the U.S. Government's stabilization and counternarcotics policy goals by promoting a sustainable, thriving agricultural economy in Afghanistan.