2SCALE Project to Improve Food Security in 9 African Countries

Posted by |17 July 2012

The new ‘Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship’ project (2SCALE) was created to improve rural livelihoods, nutrition and food security in nine countries across Africa.

2SCALE’s strategic objective is to develop a portfolio of 500 robust and viable agribusiness clusters and value chains in countries, supplying food to regional, national and local markets and the least fortunate, also known as base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) consumers.

“East West Seed International (EWIT) is interested in partnering with 2SCALE to offer African vegetable farmers access to quality tropical seeds and technical training and advice, which will allow them to better respond to local market requirements and improve food nutrition and security,” said Jan Arie Nugteren, EWIT advisor for West Africa. EWIT is a 30-year-old vegetable seed company breeds and sells premium quality hybrid and open pollinated seeds for all major tropical vegetable crops in Asia.

2SCALE, funded by the Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), began operations on July 1, 2012. The five-year project will be implemented by a consortium of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) and Base of the Pyramid Innovation Center (BoP Inc.)

“Africa imports 50 million metric tons (mmt) of food every year and yet the continent has the potential to produce its own food and to even become a major actor in the global food market,” says IFDC President and CEO Dr. Amit Roy. “2SCALE will also help smallholder farmers move from subsistence farming to farming as a business. The private sector is the main driver for agricultural development, and if farmers can sell their products at a profit, they will be willing and able to invest in the fertilizers, seeds, mechanization and other good agricultural practices that increase their productivity.”