USADF President Signs Three Grants in Zambia:

WASHINGTON - June 1, 2010 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 1, 2010 – The President of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), Lloyd Pierson, signed three grant agreements in Zambia during his visit yesterday.  The grant recipients are Mongu Dairy Cooperative Society Limited (MDCSL), Nanjucha Savings and Credit Cooperative Society, Limited (Nanjucha), and Ushaa Area Farmers Association (Ushaa).

Talking about the grants, Lloyd Pierson stated that “The Western Province is in a geographically remote locate in Zambia and those who live there are among the most marginalized in the county.  USADF funding in this area will help bolster the local economy, providing a better standard of life for people.” 

MDCSL is a cooperative society made up 82 small-scale dairy farmers. The Cooperative has just begun marketing milk to customers in Mongu district and there is a large demand for its product. The project will help the grantee take advantage of this market opportunity.  The small farmers of Western province have traditionally kept cattle and this project helps establish a market for their milk.  This gives the small rural farmers in the areas surrounding Mongu a steady source of income for their milk for the first time.   

Nanjucha is made of 156 small-scale rural rice farmers. Members are from an extremely rural and impoverished part of Mongu district. The grant is designed to help the grantee take advantage of the market opportunity by selling rice through the Cooperative.

Ushaa is made of 158 small-scale rural rice farmers. Ushaa member farmers are from a very isolated and impoverished area in Western Province. This project is a capacity building (EDI) grant is designed to help the members enhance their rice production and collectively sell rice through the Association.  Sales will lead to higher incomes for the farmers.

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Michael Koplovsky emphasized the importance of USADF’s investment in Zambian-led projects.

 “The American people have invested millions of dollars in Zambia’s future by contributing directly to the Zambian people through U.S. entities like USADF,” said Koplovsky. “The Foundation meets the core needs of communities by creating jobs, and thus improving the quality of peoples’ lives. USADF provides a helping hand up, not a hand out — an investment in, not charity for — Zambian-designed and Zambian-driven development. It helps Zambians take control of their future.”

Additionally, USADF visited Zambezi Organic Rice Growers Association (ZORGA), an organic rice growing association owned by 63 members located in Sefula village on the Zambezi flood plain.  Producer members own land on which they cultivate rice that is then marketed by the Association.  The grant, which was signed in 2009, helps the group develop formal business structures and gain technical knowledge in rice production.

USADF began programming in Zambia in 2003. Zambia’s current portfolio stands at thirty-two investment projects totaling more than $6 million dollars. For more information about the portfolio, please visit the country’s quick source page at http://www.adf.gov/USADF-QuickSourceCountryPortfolioPage-Zambia.htm.

The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) is a United States Government agency dedicated to expanding access to economic opportunities to the most marginalized populations in Africa. Currently USADF operates in 20 African countries. Over the past 25 years, USADF has funded in excess of $200 million in African initiated and led development projects.  For more information on USADF, its programs and application guidelines, visit www.usadf.gov.

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