Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer Opportunity: Maize Flour Good Manufacturing Practices Training

Volunteer Assignment Duration: 12 days, including travel

Background

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. Since 1981, it has implemented over 315 integrated dairy, livestock and crops development programs in nearly 80 countries — creating lasting impact by linking farmers, businesses, and the public and private sector in local and global contexts. Land O’Lakes Venture37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. sets it apart. Land O’Lakes, Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports Land O’Lakes Venture37 project implementation with nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives Land O’Lakes Venture37 development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world.

Program Overview

The Farmer-to-Farmer Inclusive Food Systems (F2F-IFS) program is boosting productivity and profitability of market actors across local food systems in Egypt, Lebanon, and Rwanda by providing targeted, sequenced, and layered volunteer technical assistance. As food systems become more productive and profitable, F2F-IFS is contributing to sustainable, broad-based economic growth within the agricultural sector. F2F-IFS is also facilitating people-to-people exchanges that promote connection and understanding in the global food and agriculture community.

To ensure that food systems are more inclusive and efficient in Egypt, Lebanon, and Rwanda, Land O’Lakes Venture37 is leading a five-year, $7.5 million Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program. Venture37 will complete 181 assignments, which will be specifically designed to make food systems more inclusive and accessible across the three core countries.

Since 1987, Land O’Lakes has sent more than 1,400 U.S. highly qualified volunteers — including 160 of our affiliate Land O’Lakes, Inc. staff and cooperative members — on assignments in 27 countries. As a quality-driven food company, Land O’Lakes, Inc. is uniquely positioned to drive improvements in food safety and quality by offering a broad range of agricultural technical expertise on a voluntary basis, including improved agri-business management, quality assurance, improved policy and regulatory regimes, and production and post-harvest activities. The program is funded through the USAID John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program. F2F initiatives generate rapid, sustained and broad-based economic growth in the agricultural sector. These programs also promote international goodwill, an understanding of U.S. foreign assistance programs, and private involvement in development activities.

Description of Assignment

Problem Statement

IABM Cooperative is a maize/corn producer and processing cooperative located in Muhanga district in the southern province of Rwanda. Besides producing maize and maize flour milling as the main business, IABM also sells maize seeds and produces French beans that are sold to private companies for export. In 2023 the cooperative incurred a revenue of $137,312 from maize flour, $210,238 from maize seeds, and $53,232 from French beans.

The cooperative is in the process of expanding the existing maize flour processing facility to a bigger one with a new building, new machinery mostly in the chain, and eventually new products or added value products. With the new processing facility under construction, the cooperative expects to make operations more modern with new machinery in the chain, innovative processing techniques, diversified products with different grades, improved quality of the products packaged in different bag sizes, and a new marketing strategy. For this to happen, IABM requested F2F IFS to support them with an expert who can help the production staff by conducting a training on Good Manufacturing Practices for maize flour.

Assignment Scope

The assignment will cover the following topics:

• Maize flour manufacturing techniques
• How to improve the quality of the maize flour through modern processing techniques
• Advisory on affordable, efficient, and cost-effective processing machinery 
• Best alternatives (quality, packaging, product diversification, etc.) for accessing the new market that benefits the cooperative and its members.

Host Profile

IABM Cooperative is a maize/corn producer and processing cooperative located in Muhanga district in the southern province of Rwanda. IABM cooperative has 1,562 members (992 women – 63.5%) that farm on 120 Hectares. Besides producing maize and maize flour milling as the main business, IABM also sells maize seeds and produces French beans that are sold to private companies for export. In 2023 the cooperative incurred a revenue of $137,312 from maize flour, $210,238 from maize seeds, and $53,232 from French beans. The cooperative leadership has an executive committee of 5 people and an audit committee of 3 persons. Because it is a large cooperative, IABM is divided into 8 zones for representation and decision-making reasons. Each zone comprises a 3-person leadership sub-committee and 9 messenger agents to support mobilization. The cooperative committees and zones’ leaders are elected every 3-year term and can run only two consecutive terms. Currently, the cooperative has elected a new leadership.

With the existing processing facility, IABM produces one maize flour product, said to be number one or premium quality, which is sold mainly to local schools. This product, also called “Ishema rya Makera” is milled from a three-machinery chain before being packaged manually within 25-kg bags and stored temporarily in a next room before being delivered to the clients. The current maize flour processing facility looks old, with traditional machinery to process and pack the maize flour, which implies quality issues and high production costs to the cooperative. Moreover, there is a lack of product diversification which also leads to a limited market and hence lower income for the cooperative.

Deliverables

Each volunteer must submit a Final Report to the F2F Program, which includes the following sections:

• A summary of tasks and observations from site visits
• A list of 3-5 specific and actionable recommendations for the host organization(s). The recommendations are very important to the program as they are used to track host adoption of recommendations and the impact on hosts’ farms and businesses. These recommendations will be reviewed during the debriefing session with country staff at the end of the assignment and the volunteer may make revisions to them in their Final Report.
• A section listing the assignment objectives above and how they were met or why they were not met.
• A short summary of the assignment with relevant photos that can be shared on various media platforms.

Outreach

Upon return to the United States, the volunteer is requested to communicate his or her F2F experience to their peers and communities. Outlets to share the volunteer experience include home groups (e.g., civic and religious groups, professional associations, etc.), workplace presentations, local newspapers, community or workplace newsletters, personal blogs and social media sites. It is important to give recognition to USAID for funding the F2F IFS program. At least two outreach events are requested and should be communicated to Elizabeth Laferriere ([email protected]). Volunteers will be invited to join a volunteer group through LinkedIn and will receive occasional surveys requesting information about completed outreach activities during each period.

Volunteer Qualifications

The recruited volunteer is expected to have the following skills and qualifications:

• Educational Background: a degree or certificate related to Food Technology, Food Science, food production, or Food Engineering. 
• More than 5 years of practical food manufacturing, research on food processing, especially with maize/corn.
• Training Skills, including training in group settings
• Excellent writing and computer skills 
• Sufficiently physically fit, with appropriate medical clearance
• Familiar with conducting training through translators/interpreters

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is an equal opportunity employer and an organization striving to help global communities thrive through agriculture. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status, among other factors. Our culture values a diversity of voices. So bring us your unique experiences, your workstyle, and your dreams — they’ll only make us stronger.

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