Malawi Joins Howard Buffett Funded Agra Purchase for Progress P4P
Tue, July 13, 2010 
Malawi is the latest country to join the innovative development initiative in which the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) buys surplus agricultural projects from local farmers’ organizations.
The UN News Center reports that the WFP bought 50 tons of maize from the Grain and Legumes Association, a farmers’ organization made up of over 95,000 smallholder farmers, as part of the agency’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative. via UN
In an info bit we will investigate further, the UN estimates that by 2013, at lest half a million smallholder farmers — mostly women — will have increased and improved their agricultural production and earnings thanks to the P4P programme, which was launched in 2008.
The reporting on the invovement of the women in any directing funding to them — vs their husbands — has not been clear. Our impression has been that while women do about 80% of the agriculatural labor in Africa, men get the money.
P4P is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, European Commission, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, United States and Saudi Arabia.
Note: The Ecologist features an interesting new article: Malawi reaps the reward of returning to age-old, chemical-free farming.
Reader Comments