The World Food Logistics Organization (WFLO), a core partner of the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), was awarded a grant by the Technical and Operational Performance Support (TOPS) Program to evaluate postharvest capacity-building activities in sub-Saharan Africa.
The TOPS Program is the USAID/Office of Food for Peace-funded learning initiative that generates, captures, disseminates, and applies information, knowledge, and promising practices in development food assistance programming to ensure that more communities and households benefit from the US government’s investment in fighting global hunger.
Since 2010, WFLO has been working with the University of California–Davis and The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) on a USAID-funded pilot project to establish a Postharvest Training and Services Center (PTSC) in Arusha, Tanzania.
The PTSC model includes five interacting components: training of postharvest trainers, local farmer training programs, postharvest demonstrations, services such as cold storage, and a retail shop for postharvest tools and supplies. The original concept for the PTSC model arose from a 2009 WFLO workshop focused on appropriate postharvest technologies for India, Egypt, Rwanda, Benin, Ghana, Kenya, and Indonesia, and a similar project that Kitinoja worked on in Cape Verde for the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
In all these cases during assessment and early fieldwork stages, the basic postharvest information, tools, and supplies most needed for improving postharvest handling and improving outcomes were difficult to find or completely missing. This grant will give WFLO the opportunity to evaluate the PTSC as a model for postharvest loss reduction in other developing nations.
WFLO postharvest experts will visit three key sites in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda, where Master Postharvest trainers are currently working and where the PTSC is located. They will conduct a complete evaluation, make recommendations, and offer workshops for local stakeholders and consultants on project monitoring and evaluation practices.
Access www.gcca.org or www.thetopsprogram.org for more information.
