The U.S. Department of Agriculture, together with the U.S. Agency for International Development, participates in a variety of agricultural technical assistance and training programs in Africa. Some of the major activities are listed below. The unit responsible is shown by the acronym in parenthesis after the program title, in case you want to get additional information (a list of these acronyms and a person to contact for each unit is shown on the final page of this document).

The Borlaug Fellows Program offers short-term training and collaborative research opportunities in international agricultural science and policy through exchanges of entry-level scientists, academics, policymakers, and regulators from developing and middle-income countries. Training venues include U.S. land grant universities, USDA or other government agencies, private companies, not-for-profit institutions, and international agricultural research centers. Each Fellow will be assigned a mentor who will visit the Fellow’s home country after completion of the training to continue the collaboration.

Since 1998, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has worked with the American Seed Trade Association to build trade capacities in Africa’s seed sector. A major focus of the program has been the establishment of the African Seed Trade Association, an organization of public and private seed stakeholders that promotes policy reforms, technology transfers, and business linkages to enhance seed quality and the profitability of seed trade in Africa. Issues that have been addressed through this program in Africa include intellectual property, market information, business management skills, and seed quality assurance measures.

Cochran Fellowship Program (CFP)

The Cochran Fellowship Program provides 2-6 weeks of agricultural training in the United States for mid- and senior-level public or private professionals in areas that include agricultural trade, marketing, management, policy, food safety, and technology transfer. By the end of fiscal year 2003, a total of 757 Sub-Saharan African Fellows were selected to participate in the program: South Africa (222), Côte d’Ivoire (178), Nigeria (85), Kenya (85), Uganda (36), Ghana (33), Senegal (28), Namibia (21), Mozambique (15), Tanzania (15), Botswana (14), Zimbabwe (6), Lesotho (6), Ethiopia (3), and The Gambia, Guinea, Malawi, Angola, and Zambia (with 2 Fellows each).

Establishment of Trade Hubs (PDP)

A major stumbling block to increased African agricultural exports to the United States is the lack of expertise to complete detailed acceptable pest risk assessments (PRAs) for USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approval. Starting in fiscal year 2003, APHIS technical staff members have been working in three African trade hubs in Africa (Ghana, Kenya, and Botswana). This project includes market analysis and intensive risk assessment training to further the capacity building objectives of this region.

The United States is encouraging African nations to become partners in negotiations with Europe and the WTO concerning biotechnology. As follow-up to earlier U.S. university-based biotechnology training, technical assistance funded by the Emerging Markets Program (EMP) in fiscal years 2004-05 will include country-specific and regional workshops involving U.S. and African regulators, private sector representatives and scientists.

Transportation Management & Harmonizing Standards – Eastern/Southern Africa (PDP)

In fiscal year 2002, through a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded (USAID) activity, USDA staff assisted policy makers in the East Africa sub-region (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) in improving regional transportation management, developing a common set of agricultural standards, and enhancing public-private collaboration. The poor state of transportation infrastructure and the dearth of harmonized standards in the region are two of the largest constraints restricting faster East African economic growth, U.S.-East Africa bilateral trade, and East Africa inter-regional trade.

Based on the success of the East Africa project, USAID and FAS funded a similar series of activities in four Southern Africa countries: Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa during fiscal years 2002 and 2003. The work culminated in recommended policy changes to increase the countries’ openness to trade and investment in the agricultural sector in fiscal year 2004. Collaboration has already been initiated between the East Africa and Southern Africa projects. East African and Southern African transportation participants are working on ways to further develop two major transportation corridors linking the countries of the two regions.

USDA’s Cold Chain Improvement Initiative provides training and technical assistance to stimulate local and foreign demand for perishable food products handled within the cold chain. The quality and profitability of food merchandising is enhanced through education and technical assistance on proper practices and key linkages from port refrigeration through retail display. In 2000, FAS conducted a country-wide cold chain assessment in South Africa that identified weaknesses in the distribution, storage, and handling of imported perishable food; made recommendations for technical assistance and training to rectify problems; and recommended delivery of technical assistance in-country through seminars, association building efforts, and assistance to individual companies by U.S. experts. That year FAS and the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses coordinated the first cold chain technical seminars in South Africa. In October 2002, FAS coordinated a two-week program in Capetown, South Africa, to help local companies improve their cold chains to support more efficient marketing of perishable foods in the country. U.S. technical experts from the private sector worked with companies to establish a base-line assessment of existing cold chain conditions, develop a company-designed and -managed cold chain improvement plan, and initiate the plan to meet project objectives.

USDA technical assistance and expertise are provided to USAID’s Regional Economic Development Services Office for East and Southern Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya, to assist in agricultural and natural resource management. Services are provided in environmental protection, regional trade, food security, private sector development, and agricultural research networks. Countries of operation include Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius, Lesotho, Swaziland, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and Tanzania. Long-term and short-term USDA and land-grant-university services are provided.

The Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) is a USAID-funded 5-year initiative that aims to identify and establish the conditions and practices required for reducing deforestation and biodiversity loss in the Congo Basin. An expanded African knowledge base and individual and institutional capacity, resulting from CARPE, will serve as the foundation for a longer term (15- to 20-year) effort to manage forest resources in a sustainable manner, conserve biodiversity, and avert changes in regional and global climate. USDA and university partners are managing the project and providing technical assistance.

USDA has been implementing USAID PASA-funded activities in Southern Sudan since 1997. These activities include Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance/Mitigation activities as well as activities under the African Trade and Investment Program (ATRIP) and Strategic Analysis and Capacity Building (SACB), and currently under the Southern Sudan Agriculture Revitalization Program (SSARP). These activities have focused on short-term technical assistance to the agricultural and natural resources sectors and support to pilot activities.

Under a USAID-funded sustainable development project to strengthen linkages between U.S. resources and the international community in Sub-Saharan Africa on a wide range of economic reform issues, two USDA staff members are working on the trade and investment team advising USAID’s Africa Bureau on economic and trade policy regarding Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as serving as points of contact for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and related issues. Activities include technical assistance in developing a strategic approach for trade, investment, private sector development, and economic policy reforms.

A USDA agricultural economist serves as the program manager for famine prevention on the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) project, which helps strengthen food security preparedness and planning worldwide via information networks. The goal is to strengthen the ability of African countries and regional organizations to manage the risk of food insecurity through the provision of timely and analytical early warning and vulnerability information. FEWS NET professionals in the United States and Africa monitor various data information, including remotely sensed data and ground-based meteorological, crop, and rangeland conditions, as early indications of potential threats to food security. Activities include capacity development for rapid exchange of satellite data and flood-related analyses.

The USAID Abatement of Africa Emergency Locust/Grasshopper Assistance project provides long-term technical assistance to countries affected by major outbreaks of pests, including locusts, grasshoppers, armyworms, and rodents. The objectives are to establish national and regional capacities for environmentally sound and effective pest management and to minimize the impact pests could cause on food security, human health, and the environment. USDA is furnishing the services of a Senior Technical Advisor from the University of Maryland.

This project brings the benefits of the information revolution to people in Africa through connection to the Internet and other global information infrastructure technologies. It also promotes Internet-friendly polices related to affordable, cost-based tariffs, introduction of competition, and the free flow of information. The Initiative also provides the latest satellite and wireless technologies to connect Africa's capitals and secondary cities to the Internet and to under-served communities and institutions.

Collaborative research projects and exchange visits link U.S. scientists with their international counterparts. Scientific Cooperation Research Program (SCRP) projects address USDA’s objectives to 1) apply biotechnology and other innovative methods to resolve food safety and sanitary/phytosanitary issues, 2) enhance agricultural trade opportunities, and 3) respond to concerns by small and limited resource farmers. SCRP projects encourage collaboration toward economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural and forestry systems necessary for domestic and international food security. In fiscal year 2003, the Scientific Cooperation Research Program supported 15 research partnerships with 9 African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

This USDA project is an agriculture literacy and outreach program that targets traditionally under-represented groups to enhance and expand knowledge of agricultural science and research activities both in the United States and targeted regions throughout the world, including Africa. The program aims to increase understanding of international agriculture among minority teachers in urban settings through participation in international study tours focused on observation of diverse agricultural and natural resource management practices.

USDA provides expertise directly to USAID for the following activities in Africa:

Sacramento, California: In June 2003, Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman hosted a Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology attended by 119 Ministers of Agriculture, Environment, Science, and Trade from 117 nations, including some 33 African nations. In addition to promoting technologies, including biotechnology, that enhance global competitiveness in crop and livestock production, the Conference included specific sessions on agricultural trade capacity building such as food identity preservation technologies, food quality assurance, supermarket management, and improving "cold chain" market infrastructure. The conference also featured issues related to improving global sanitary and phytosanitary conditions, including food safety.

Participants agreed to continue to work together on follow-up activities, which have included:

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: During June 21-23, 2004, USDA, the Department of State, USAID, and the Government of Burkina Faso co-hosted a regional follow-up Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology To Increase Agricultural Productivity in Africa: West African Perspectives. Four heads of state from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, and Niger attended, as did 18 ministers from West Africa and 300 participants from 22 countries. More than 40 formal presentations and numerous side meetings and informal discussions took place, with emphasis on regional cooperation and partnerships, capacity building and technical assistance, water, biotechnology, trade and investment, and HIV/AIDS.

Under reimbursable agreements, USDA is providing 10 agricultural advisors to work with USAID in Washington, DC and in Africa to manage and implement the President’s Initiative To End Hunger in Africa. The Initiative, designed to be active for 15 years (2003-2017) in selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, aims to reduce poverty, especially in rural areas.

Under USAID’s Africa Trade and Investment Policy Program, USDA is providing technical assistance to Ghanaian food producers and processors to comply with U.S. and European phytosanitary, bio-safety, and related health and product quality standards. This activity is being carried out with assistance from USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Tuskegee University.

USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service is collaborating with the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agriculture to build capacity for cooperative leaders and rural farmers in six targeted cooperative organizations to effectively produce and market their products and improve their income and standards of living. The project is improving organizational and operational skills to help develop strong farmer-owned and farmer-controlled associations and cooperatives. Opportunities Industrialization Centers International is partnering with USDA to provide technical assistance, and the Ghana Cooperative College in Kumasi is upgrading its facilities and redesigning its cooperative curriculum and course materials.

Through this USAID-funded Education for Development and Democracy Initiative (EDDI) project, USDA conducted an agricultural school exchange program between Marachel High School in Rodriguez, Mauritius, and Don Lugo High School in Chino, California. The objectives of this program include developing entrepreneurship programs for students, particularly for girls, at the school in Rodriguez; exposing American students to cross-cultural issues and their impact on trade; and reinstating an agricultural youth organization in Rodriguez based on the U.S. Future Farmers of America model.

This USAID-funded project addresses the self-help needs of small-scale farm families, particularly women and girls, in agribusiness development and alternative crop production in the Kabwe and Monze districts of the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU). The program enhances the existing telecommunications capacities of ZNFU’s Kabwe and Monze offices so that they can serve as resource centers providing computer or Internet access for women and girls, giving them access to information on entrepreneurship, marketing, and crop production. New practices through access to information previously unavailable will assist women and girls by increasing household incomes and economic self-sufficiency. USDA’s role in this effort included travel to Zambia to facilitate customer councils between ZNFU staff and their customers.

CFP—Margaret McDaniel, 202, 690-1734; margaret.mcdaniel@usda.gov

ICD/ODA—Christian Foster, 202, 690-0775; christian.foster@usda.gov

PDP—Art Westneat, 202, 690-1141; art.westneat@usda.gov

RMC—Bruce Crossan, 202, 690-2928; bruce.crossan@usda.gov

RSED—Carol Kramer-Leblanc, 690-4872; carol.kramer-leblanc@usda.gov

RSED SCIENCE AND TRADE TEAM—Gary Laidig, 202, 720-7481; gary.laidig@usda.gov

TIP—Joe Hain, 202, 720-8218l; joe.hain@usda.gov

July 2004