This campaign has now closed
African agricultural growth rates are currently far below the 4%+ needed to reach the Millennium Development Goals of overcoming malnutrition, hunger and poverty in Africa by 2015. FARM-Africa’s Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund improves the livelihoods of farming communities in East Africa by supporting projects which promote the transfer and adoption of new agricultural technologies and increase the productivity of smallholder farmers.
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Situation
Agricultural productivity and growth in African countries have stagnated for many years, due to institutional failures, market constraints, and the difficulty of ensuring information gets from research stations to farmers fields. This has resulted in decreased productivity and poor income generation in many rural families, fuelling a vicious cycle of poverty and food insecurity. Through competitive application our Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund selects 2-3 year project partnerships with community organisations and rural-focused NGOs in East Africa which explore new technologies in crop, livestock and natural resource management. Particular emphasis is placed on increasing access to markets and addressing the entire product value chain. By 2010 FARM-Africa aims to support 10 new projects, and develop six new agricultural models to increase financial profitability of enterprises by an average of 50%. To date we have funded 51 projects ranging from the production of solar dried banana chips in Kenya, to a cockerel exchange and hatching programme to increase egg production in Uganda. A socio-economic study of four of our funded projects in early 2007 revealed that gross margins had increased by up to $5,274 per acre, and that each $1 of an MATF grant had resulted in direct economic benefits of between $2 - $24.30. These increased incomes had been used for a variety of household priorities such as school fees and higher education, and farmers had also benefitted socially through group membership and by increasing knowledge and empowerment through training.