Investing in Agriculture
Farm owner Abdumukim Mirkarimov appraises the apricot harvest with farm personnel in Isfara, Tajikistan. USAID works with farmers to help restore the country's apricot orchards. (Photo: Winrock International) ASIA BUREAU AGRICULTURE PROGRAMS
Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam
CONTACTS
Scott Christiansen
Senior Agricultural Development Advisor
Tel: (202) 712-0745
Email:schristiansen@usaid.gov
Overview
In much of Asia, agriculture is a way of life. Most of the region's population lives in rural areas and earns a living from agriculture. One-third of the rural population lives in abject poverty. Too often, those who work the land cannot feed their families. USAID fights rural poverty and hunger by investing in agriculture. Research shows that when farmers' incomes go up, their neighbors also benefit from increased sales of goods and services. This "multiplier effect" brings job growth and higher standards of living to rural areas.
Programs
Sharing Productivity-Enhancing Technologies
USAID seeks to expand poor farmers' access to knowledge and technologies that will enable them to raise yields. For example, USAID's distribution of high-quality winter wheat seed in Kyrgyzstan in 2008 led to the production of enough wheat to satisfy domestic needs for the first time in 15 years.
In India, USAID is working with universities and local companies to promote private-sector hubs that provide farmers with outreach, consultation, and laboratory services. And in Cambodia, USAID is increasing farmers' resilience to climate change and natural disasters by supporting the adaptation of drought- and flood-tolerant rice varieties to the local context and promoting better soil conservation and management practices.
Linking Farmers to Markets
Farmers cannot profit from surplus production unless they can sell their products on fair terms in the marketplace. However, small-scale farmers' market access often is limited by a lack of information, poor infrastructure, and small production volumes. USAID identifies the key constraints along a products path from farm to market, and then addresses these gaps in the "value chain." For example, in Sri Lanka, USAID has improved post-harvest processing and storage of rice and horticultural products to reduce losses and help farmers meet food safety and quality requirements.
Poor farmers often grow traditional staple crops on small plots. By making the shift from low-value staples like rice and wheat to higher-value products, farmers can substantially increase their incomes. USAID helps poor farmers gain the inputs, the know-how, and the market connections they need to make the shift. In Nepal, participants in a USAID program for small-scale farmers substantially increased their incomes by installing micro-irrigation systems that enabled them to expand their production of off-season vegetables, tea, and coffee.
Promoting Food Security
USAID plays a central role in Feed the Future (FTF), which is the U.S. global hunger and food security initiative. USAID supports this effort through robust programs in the four Asian FTF focus countries—Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tajikistan—and through work with the government of India, which is a strategic partner in the FTF initiative.
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