How the CRS-Led ACORDAR Project in Nicaragua Is Helping Small-Scale Farmers Become Major Players

The CRS-led Alliance to Create Rural Development Opportunities through Agroenterprise Relationships (ACORDAR) assists 7,000 smallholder farmers by helping them produce and sell demand-driven goods. The agency has also helped farmers organize enterprises that maintain multiple off-farm relationships with financial service providers, buyers, local governments and added-value certification bodies.

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Providing Food Assistance While Supporting Local Production

Local and Regional Procurement of food aid involves using cash resources to purchase food commodities within the country or region of programming. Two recent programs in Mali and Burkina Faso not only supplied commodities to schools but also used USDA resources to support smallholder farmers.

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Combating cassava diseases to reduce food insecurity and increase incomes in the Great Lakes Region

Cassava Mosaic Disease and Cassave Brown Streak Disease have devastated the food security and income of millions of cassava-dependent farm families. The Great Lakes Cassave Initiative is combing research and development activities to respond to this crisis.  

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Partnership for Success - Stories from the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative

In the Great Lakes region of Africa, cassava is being ravaged by two diseases that can reduce yields by over 70% and render the roots and leaves inedible. These diseases have led to severe food insecurity in the region, exacerbated by erratic weather and poor cereal yields.  The Great Lakes Cassava Initiative, a CRS-led project in the area, is helping farmers overcome food insecurity. The stories shared through this document are a small sample of the experiences of local stakeholders and implementing NGO partner staff and beneficiaries participating in the project. Each story provides qualitative insight into the project’s impacts. The stories are also being complemented by more quantitative case studies.

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Harnessing the Power of Savings and Lending Communities to Drive Agroenterprise Development in Ghana

Cracking the Nut Conference: Overcoming Obstacles to Rural and Agricultural Finances

For smallholder farmers in Ghana, limited access to agricultural finance and quality agriculture extension support are the two most binding constraints to achieving increased production and productivity. They also struggle to find reliable and qualified agricultural extension support. This paper highlights an innovative strategy used by CRS to mobilize partners into small groups in order to improve their access to finance for agricultural investment through savings and internal lending communities (SILC) and enhance the outreach of extension officers without increasing their workload.  

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