USAID Colombia Producers to Markets Alliance | Quarterly Report 05

The program's fifth quarterly report covers activities and achievements from April through June 2018. During this period, PMA initiated 27 new activities under its Activity Fund, including 18 partner alliances with commercial producer organizations to increase productivity, sales, and business capacity, and 8 tertiary road projects to improve market access for rural farmers. Key results and interventions during this reporting period include increased export sales by connecting producers to markets. PMA-supported producer associations generated $4.2 million in local sales, bringing the cumulative total to $7.7 million, which is 77 percent of the annual target. Export sales totaled $276,000 this quarter, all from cacao. Through support with supply linkages, traceability, and route logistics to consolidate volumes of quality cacao, PMA partner ASPROCAT exported 110 tons of quality cacao through commercial ally COOPROAGRO. PMA also officially launched its Specialty Coffee for Post-Conflict strategy aimed at identifying specialty coffee and improving postharvest processes. In addition to increased export sales, PMA achieved increased production that responds to market demand. The program incorporated 3,257 farm households into the program, bringing the cumulative number of beneficiaries to 10,086, which is 58 percent of the FY 2018 cumulative target. These households represent 14,561 hectares of licit crops in target value chains. A random sample survey conducted of PMA beneficiaries showed that farmers reported an overall application rate of 69 percent of basic productivity-enhancing technologies, and ranked PMA's technical assistance as 7.9 out of 10, expressing satisfaction with technical services received to date. PMA also made significant progress in increased investment in rural infrastructure. PMA-supported roads projects improved an additional 322 kilometers of tertiary roads, bringing the cumulative total to 459 kilometers, which is 362 percent of the cumulative FY2018 target of 131.4 kilometers. Through subcontractor Interactuar, PMA initiated capacity strengthening activities with the three USAID-formed APCs aimed at improving technical and business performance and building long-term sustainability. The program also launched its Agricultural Education for Youth Initiative, signing six MOUs with agricultural technical schools across target regions aimed at building regional extension capacity for the future. PMA's cross-cutting components also made significant progress during this reporting period. The program leveraged $8.7 million in committed counterpart contributions to PMA activities, bringing total counterpart contributions to $38.1 million. PMA expanded coverage from 38 to 46 municipalities for interventions, representing 53 percent of the 86 priority municipalities targeted by USAID and the GOC. The program also reported that 71.5 percent of program beneficiaries represent vulnerable populations, including women, youth, Afro-Colombian, and indigenous populations.