Partners in Food Solutions, USAID and TechnoServe Expand Partnership to Improve Food Security in Africa

Thursday, October 18, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS (October 18, 2012) – Today, the nonprofit Partners in Food Solutions (PFS), a consortium of General Mills, Cargill and DSM, announced a newly established agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The new agreement will enable PFS to expand the reach of the technical and business expertise it provides to small and growing food processors in sub-Saharan Africa. The agreement announced today builds on a public-private partnership between USAID, the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and General Mills, formed in 2010.

Under this new agreement, Solutions to African Food Enterprises (SAFE), USAID and PFS will deepen their collaboration to improve African food security by bringing expertise, knowledge and resources to the continent’s food processing sector. PFS will provide over $8 million in resources to the endeavor, leveraging almost $7 million in funding from USAID. This public-private partnership – implemented by TechnoServe and part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future and Global Health initiatives – will continue to help improve African food security.

The collective commitment will utilize more than 50,000 hours of expertise from employee volunteers from General Mills, Cargill and DSM – sharing their technical and business knowledge with 250 food processors and millers throughout Eastern and Southern Africa.

In addition, this partnership will work to expand capital and market access to the processors we engage. To sustain and scale these results across the sector, PFS will develop and share best practices in food processing with African organizations who will support further sector development after PFS support ends. By the end of the five-year effort, the partnership will have strengthened an entire industry.

Source: TechnoServe Press Release (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Agriculture, Health Care
Tags
nutrition