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News
14 October 2011
Bonn, Germany
World Food Day: Online volunteers help create tools for
smallholder farmers
Price swings represent a major threat to food security in developing countries. Hardest-hit are the
poor. According to the World Bank, in 2010-2011 rising food costs pushed nearly 70 million people
into extreme poverty. This year’s World Food Day theme “Food prices – from crisis to stability” has
been chosen to shed some light on this trend and what can be done to mitigate its impact on the
most vulnerable.
The following three examples show how online volunteers contributed to the activities of
development organizations working in the area of food and agriculture.
Price swings represent a major threat to food security in developing countries. Hardest-hit are the
poor. According to the World Bank, in 2010-2011 rising food costs pushed nearly 70 million people
into extreme poverty.
This year’s World Food Day theme “Food prices – from crisis to stability” has been chosen to shed
some light on this trend and what can be done to mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable.
The following three examples show how online volunteers contributed to the activities of
development organizations working in the area of food and agriculture.
FAO Guatemala
In Guatemala, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) just concluded a
two-year project to reduce the impact of rising food prices on the diet of thousands of vulnerable
families in the poorest areas of the country. FAO helped smallholder farmers’ organizations to boost
the quality and productivity of their maize crops, improve their traditional agricultural systems and
strengthen their marketing capacity.
A set of manuals for farmers that promote good agricultural practices such as greywater filters, living
fences and bokashi composting were developed. The manuals along with a 46-page summary of the
lessons learned in the area of seed capital for farmers were designed and edited by online volunteer
Beatriz García, a Mexican graphic designer. Used to working in commercial projects, Beatriz
appreciated the opportunity to use her skills to contribute to improving the situation of deprived
communities in Guatemala.
The project positively impacted the nutritional status of 22,000 smallholder farmers and their
families by raising their income, improving food supply for the market as well as increasing small
livestock production.
4 C Association
Within the 4C Association (4 C stands for Common Code for the Coffee Community), producers,
trade, industry and civil society from around the world work together for more sustainability in the
entire coffee sector. This global community has joined forces to continuously improve the social,
environmental and economic conditions for the people making their living with coffee.
The 4C Association supports coffee farmers to apply better agricultural, processing and management
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World Food Day: Online volunteers help create tools for smallh
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practices. This results in increased yields, improved quality and reduced production costs for
farmers, helping them to improve their incomes.
By working in the 4C system, producers have free access to information and training tools to help
them change from conventional towards sustainable coffee production. Selling their coffee as 4C
compliant also opens new marketing opportunities for producers and enhances their opportunities in
the marketplace.
To help coffee producers join the 4C system, the 4C Association has developed a simple step-by-step
guide that explains how the system works as well as its benefits. Two online volunteers translated
the guide into Spanish and Portuguese, making it available to farmers in hispanophone and
lusophone countries.
Engineers Without Borders Cameroon
The Cameroonian branch of Engineers Without Borders pooled the expertise of around xx
agricultural specialists from across the world to support the creation of their agricultural manuals for
smallholders.
Volunteers are contributing by writing, reviewing and editing the manuals that present complex
techniques and technologies in an easy to understand manner. Their specific expertise is as diverse
as the topics: a Cameroonian Agricultural Engineer and experienced in farmer training, reviewed a
manual on manioc, sharing his experience in manioc cultivation and control of manioc pests and
diseases.
Mélanie Rousseau Nuñez, a French volunteer living in Colombia with a multidisciplinary education in
agronomy, anthropology, economy and environment with focus on tropical agriculture, used her time
between jobs to review and improve a manual on family farming. Having worked in Senegal,
analyzing family farmers’ practices and proposing innovative approaches adapted to their socioeconomic context, her expertise and experiences were the perfect match for the task.
The around 30 manuals will be published in the virtual library on the organization’s website in
English and French as well as printed for distribution to local farmer groups. Currently, Engineers
Without Borders is looking for online volunteers to illustrate the guides.
Bonn, Germany
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