FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susie Anderson (801) 870-3568
Mike Dale (801) 550-5850
TIFIE TO PIONEER AGRICULTURE PROGRAM IN CONGO
(DUMI PLATEAU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO – March 28, 2012) TIFIE Humanitarian, a Utah-based international charity, has received a grant from DAI (Development Alternatives, Inc.) and USAID to promote an extensive seed-to-market agriculture program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The $39,000 grant to TIFIE will be usedto plant and distribute32.5 hectares of virus resistant cassava in the Dumi Plateau, a village outclave 140 kilometers east of the capital city of Kinshasa. DAI is utilizing TIFIE’s expertise in agriculture to plant, grow, and harvest this new strain of cassava (anti-Mosaique virus) and distribute it to the local villages.
TIFIE will then teach the villages how to farm cassava and acacia trees in a rotational schedule. After the villages harvest the cassava, TIFIE will purchase the cassava, transform it, add nutrients and then transport the product to the market and sell it, returning profits to the farm for future growth.
The goal of the program is building economies in rural areas through agriculture.TIFIE had the model DAI was looking for. Through its established agriculture programs at its Farm in Dumi, TIFIE had existing community relations, experience training villagers on agriculture work, transportation, and had market presence to sell the product.
“TIFIE Humanitarian is the first organization we have found that has experience in all levels of the "seed to market" model,” said Paul Delucco of DAI. “We see this as a long term partnership and will work with TIFIE to find water solutions and other projects in the DRC in the future.”
For the past three years TIFIE Training Center has offered agriculture programs focused on helping villagers improve food availability, food security, and increase economic stability with sustainable agricultural practices. TIFIE provides technical assistance to farmers in agro forestry and seed multiplication. The programs encourage changes to cropping patterns, reforestation and diversify of harvests that can enhance economic livelihoods.
TIFIE is currently working to improve food production and climate mitigation by forming voluntary farming associations where members plant and sell cassava for profit. To date, some regions have returned to original levels of cassava production.At any given time TIFIE’s farm in Dumi can easily employ up to 200 people.
“This is an ideal partnership for TIFIE because we have the expertise and have been doing this type of program for three years,” said Robert Workman, founder and CEO of TIFIE Humanitarian. “We are pleased that both our vision and DAI's vision are aligned.”
- more –
PAGE 2TIFIE TO PIONEER AGRICULTURE PROGRAM IN CONGO
DAI has been in the DRC for many years and is a consulting firm based in Washington DC which implements USAID funded projects around the world. DAI focuses on fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governments, and instability. DAI brings together fresh combinations of expertise and innovation across multiple disciplines—crisis mitigation and stability operations, democratic governance and public sector management, agriculture and agribusiness, water and natural resources management, and energy and climate change. Visit:
TIFIE Humanitarian is pioneering a new approach to charitable efforts in West Africa by establishing thriving agricultural development farms, medical initiatives, business entities, and successful distribution, transportation and construction services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For more information:
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
(Photo #1 TIFIE USAID) Noël Botakele, Provincial Minister of Agriculture of Kinshasa and Diana Putman, Mission Director, USAID Congo post sign in virus resistant cassava field at TIFIE Farm in Dumi.
(Photo #2 TIFIE USAID Press Event) Diana Putman, Mission Director, USAID Congo announces agriculture partnership between TIFIE Humanitarian and USAID, along with Noël Botakele, Provincial Minister of Agriculture of Kinshasa and Paul DeLucco, Director of DAI FPPM.
(Photo #3 TIFIE USAID Cassava) Abdias Niangisi, TIFIE Director of Agriculture (left) explains cassava chipping process to Diana Putnam and Noël Botakele at TIFIE Farm in Dumi.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
In many villages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, smallholder farmers rely on subsistence farming to meet basic nutritional needs. Farmers are discouraged from planting cash crops because of their inability to warehouse, protect, and transport their crops making it difficult to generate an income worth their time and effort.
Many farmers utilize agricultural practices that deplete soil nutrients, increase desertification, negatively impact water conservation efforts and otherwise make the land incapable of supporting crops in consecutive seasons. In addition, due to frequent droughts, poor harvests and a lack of technical expertise, the quality of agricultural seeds has declined over the years.
TIFIE Humanitarian’s efforts at providing employment and sustenance through agriculture are based on the complex growth and production cycle of cassava. It is a staple food for many people in Africa because not only is it highly nutritious, but it is also a plant that lends itself well to agriculture in regions with poor soil and little rain. TIFIE has managed to develop a production cycle that only allows for regular high-yield production of cassava, but incorporates the planting and growing of acacia trees as well. Deforestation is an increasingly severe problem in the Congo, which makes it no small feat that TIFIE has managed to find a cassava production technique that involves planting a quarter of a million trees each year.
- more –
PAGE 3TIFIE TO PIONEER AGRICULTURE PROGRAM IN CONGO
The production method is by no means a simple one, as it has been developed to be not only highly efficient, but highly profitable as well. From taking the time to plow over the weeds instead of burning them so as not to disrupt the local wildlife, to planting acacia trees next to every cassava plant so that each field can be producing two crops at the same time. The acacia trees not only allow the farmers to avoid mistaking the cassava plants for weeds during the year it takes them to grow to maturity, but the trees themselves can be harvested every five years to be made into charcoal. Which means that even during the three years required for the nutrients to return to the soil after two successive years of cassava harvests, the fields will not be left sitting empty and idle. Without the acacia trees and the benefits they add to the soil, it would take seven years for a field to recover and restore itself after each harvest of cassava.
The cycle of growth and harvest of both cassava and acacia trees makes it possible to develop a cycle of work spread over multiple fields and areas so that even when one particular field is idle and recovering, there are others available to provide crops and employment for TIFIE’s employees and the surrounding community members.
# # #