At IFDC, it all starts with sustainable agriculture, which we see
as the answer to the first two goals. We assist farmers to boost
their crop production to nutritiously feed their families, through
improved seeds, appropriate fertilizer use, and other good
agricultural practices.
But IFDC believes that improved agriculture does not end
with bigger yields. Our efforts follow through on ensuring
that those higher yields make it to markets, and eventually
to other consumers, from the base of the pyramid to the top.
For example, from 2012 to 2016, our Catalyze Accelerated
Agricultural Intensification for Social and Environmental
Stability ( CATALIST-Uganda) project linked more than 70,000
farmers to agribusinesses, the sales from which are resulting in
a 50 perecent increase in their incomes. It is our aim to ensure
our farmers’ hard work not only puts food on the table but
is profitable.
Empowering women farmers and entrepreneurs represents
one of the surest routes to achieving a world free of poverty and
hunger. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations, if given the same access to tools
and knowledge as men, yields on women’s farms could increase
20-30 percent, which could provide food security for up to 150
million people.
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IFDC’s Catalyze Accelerated Agricultural Intensification for
Social and Environmental Stability (CATALIST-II) project, from
2012 to 2016, determined to engage and empower women
farmers in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and
Rwanda. These women farmers, many of whom had access
to fertilizer for the first time in their lives (through a women-
focused subsidy system) increased their yields to four times the
national average. But their empowerment did not stop at the
farm, as they learned business management practices, received
access to credit, and were linked to profitable markets. In
Burundi alone, 18 sorghum cooperatives provided the nation’s
largest brewery with more than 10,000 tons of white sorghum,
valued at $2.6 million.