IFDC Annual Report 2014 | Page 5

• • Eight new projects launched during 2014, including the Fertilizer Sector Improvement (FSI) project in Myanmar. The project will boost rice yields by 15 to 25 percent and vegetable yields by 5 to 25 percent using fertilizer deep placement (FDP) technology. • IFDC and the Kenyan government signed an accreditation agreement formalizing their shared commitment to sustainable agricultural development in the country. The agreement establishes Kenya as a “host” country to IFDC. • IFDC joined the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture and expanded urea deep placement (UDP), a climate-smart technology, to farmers in Bangladesh and other areas of the world. • The Growth Enhancement Support – Touch and Pay (GES-TAP) pilot project registered more than 500,000 Nigerian farmers for input subsidy assistance. The TAP technology helps farmers receive fertilizer more efficiently and ensures agro-dealers receive payment in a timely manner. • IFDC staff were instrumental in providing technical support for Ethiopia’s first fertilizer blending facility, Becho Weliso Fertilizer Factory, in Tullo Bullo. • The 2SCALE project worked with 260,000 farmers in nine sub-Saharan countries and established 53 public-private partnerships that enable smallholders to access new technologies and larger markets. • 3 | 2014 ANNUAL REPORT IFDC commemorated its 40th anniversary by hosting events in Washington, D.C., and Muscle Shoals, Ala., and by releasing Feeding a Hungry World: IFDC’s First Forty Years, written by Thomas Hager (Alchemy of Air). An IFDC scientist and collaborators in Bangladesh established a greenhouse gas emission laboratory and field trials at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU).