IFDC Agribusiness Clusters

22 May 2014. IFDC released it 2013 Annual Report. IFDC commemorates its 40th anniversary in 2014. Five new projects were launched during 2013, including the Walmart Foundation component of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

IFDC training in business management is helping farmers reshape their small farms into profitable businesses. Projects like AIMS III in Mozambique, AVCMP in Ghana, USAID KAED in Kyrgyzstan and 2SCALE, among others, are connecting farmers with one another as well as financial institutions, dealers and markets. As a result, farmers have a stronger collective voice in the market.

To foster farm competitiveness, 2SCALE, for example, is developing a portfolio of 500 agribusiness groups and product value chains in 12 African countries. The project will ultimately link 1.15 million farms and double their productivity. Similarly, the CFC-KIT project in Mali is improving sesame production and processing.

Extracts: 
Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship (2SCALE)
2012-2017 (page 17 of the annual report)

Overview – 2SCALE is improving rural livelihoods, nutrition and food security in 12 countries across Africa, aiming to help 1.15 million smallholder families ultimately increase their productivity by 100 percent and their net incomes by 30 percent.
A key component is the development of a portfolio of 500 robust and viable agribusiness clusters and value chains targeting regional, national and local markets, including commodity and food product markets for base-of-the-pyramid consumers. 2SCALE focuses on the development of competitive rural agricultural systems, viable agro-enterprises and PPPs to meet its goals.
Implementing Partners – Base of the Pyramid Innovation Center (BoP) Inc. and International
Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA)
Donors – DGIS (50 percent) and private sector enterprises (50 percent)
Locations – Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, South
Sudan, Togo and Uganda

Grassroots Development of Agribusiness Clusters in Mali (DEBPEA) 2009-2014
Overview – An extension of the completed From Thousands to Millions (1000s+) project, DEBPEA is reinforcing and expanding agricultural development in Mali. The project is increasing the number of agribusiness clusters in Mali and making agribusinesses sustainable and accessible – economically, organizationally and environmentally. DEBPEA is achieving this goal by designing and testing innovative instruments in rural finance such as contract financing, the inventory credit system and harvest insurance. To improve agribusiness clusters’ competitiveness and sustainability, DEBPEA is prompting agribusiness cluster participants to determine effective strategies to promote their product value chains by creating synergies and developing multi-participant action plans.
Donor – Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mali
Location – Mali

FARA Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Linking Technical Options, Policy and Market Access for Improved Land Productivity in the Northern Guinea Savanna Zone 2012-2014
Overview – The project implements the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D)
approach using four innovation platforms for rice, vegetables, livestock and maize-legume. IFDC is leading the project’s work in the Northern Guinea Savannah Zone of Nigeria.
Collaborator – Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Program
Donor – Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
Location – Nigeria