USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program
NCBA CLUSA’s USAID-sponsored Farmer-to-Farmer program sends American farmers and agribusiness professionals on 2–4 week agricultural development assignments, promoting sustainable economic growth and agricultural development worldwide. Volunteer technical assistance from US farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives, and universities aims to increase the resiliency of smallholder farmers’ businesses by focusing on diversification in production, value addition, and other income-generating activities; climate smart production; and strengthening farmers’ cooperatives and producer organizations (POs), with a cross-cutting emphasis on gender, youth, and social inclusion. NCBA CLUSA’s Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers collaborate with farmers, producer groups, rural businesses, and service providers to strengthen local capacity necessary to enhance food security, increase incomes and economic growth, and address environmental and natural resource management challenges. Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers share their skills and expertise while learning about other cultures and growing professionally. Our current Farmer-to-Farmer Program, Diversified and Resilient Farmer Businesses, operates in Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Peru through September 2028.
On our Farmer-to-Farmer associate award program in the Dominican Republic, Resilient Agriculture Activity (RAA), volunteers are strengthening the capacity of local agricultural communities to withstand shocks and stresses such as climate change, natural disasters, and market fluctuations.
For NCBA CLUSA’s Farmer-to-Farmer associate award program in East Timor, Advancing Food Systems and Nutrition (Avansa SAN), volunteer technical assistance activities will help strengthen the food system by increasing the availability, access, affordability, desirability, and consumption of healthy diets, particularly for women and children.
What do volunteers do?
Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers implement a wide variety of assignments. Some volunteers work with smallholder farmers to adopt climate-smart production techniques or help market their crops more effectively. Others might help cooperative businesses diversify their production or work with an agricultural processor to solve an operational bottleneck. Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers also support cooperative development, promote greater participation of women and youth, strengthen business planning and financial management skills, and provide training in many other areas. As the nation’s leading organization for cooperative businesses, NCBA CLUSA concentrates its technical assistance efforts on cooperatives.
How to get involved
We always seek experts in climate-smart agriculture production practices, crop diversification, post-harvest handling, cooperative development, business planning, marketing and financial management, food processing and value-addition activities, and other agricultural disciplines. NCBA CLUSA covers assignment-related expenses.
If you are interested in volunteering in the Farmer-to-Farmer program, we encourage you to contact us and send your CV to volunteer@ncba.coop.