| FFA Nation

FFA GO: Africa program takes collegiate members on the journey of a lifetime

Jessica Mozo | 04/30/2011 |

If three weeks in the jungles of Africa sounds like your kind of adventure, listen up. The National FFA Organization kicked off a new program in 2010 called FFA Global Outreach: Africa to educate collegiate members about agriculture outside the United States, and organizers plan to make it an annual opportunity.

“FFA has a number of programs that give students opportunities to travel outside the country, but we needed more opportunities to promote a broader understanding of the world around us and how agriculture fits into it,” says Bill Stagg, director of Strategic Communications for the National FFA Organization. “At the 2009 National FFA Convention,
Mr. Howard G. Buffett made a presentation about his experiences traveling the world and observing hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. He is very interested in improving the lives of others, and he made a commitment to fund a five-year program that will take FFA members out of the U.S. and turn them into change agents in the world.”

With support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, FFA launched a pilot program in August 2010, taking six college-age FFA members and one adult educator on an all-expense-paid trip to Zambia. The team spent three weeks working and studying with an enterprise called COMACO, or Community Markets for Conservation.

“COMACO is a cooperative for African farmers to improve their production techniques, help them be better stewards of the land and reduce their reliance on poaching,” Stagg says.

The six participants – Jake Chilcoat, Wyatt DeJong, Caleb Dodd, Catharine Kuber, Austin Larrowe and Laura Stump – along with Dr. Brad Leger, a professor at Louisiana State University, traveled to Mfuwe, Zambia and worked in teams to help COMACO staff members gather data and survey local farmers about challenges they were facing and how well the COMACO model of sustainable agriculture and conservation was working.

“When Zambian farmers sign on to the COMACO model, they can get seed free as long as they use it to positively impact the environment,” says Marilyn Ross, director of Foundation Relations for the National FFA Foundation. “Before COMACO, farmers were unable to support their families on what they produced, so they were poaching wild animals and selling them. They used snares to trap animals, but when they were given seed, they understood they had to
give up poaching and turn in their snares.”

Many farmers have been able to increase their crop production significantly using the COMACO model of sustainable agriculture techniques, and they are selling their excess produce.

“They’re producing vegetables they didn’t even have before,” Ross says. “And if a family’s monthly protein was one chicken before, they’ve now doubled or tripled that nutrition source.”

Laura Stump, a student at the University of Arizona, says the FFA GO: Africa program put her “on the front lines of fighting poverty in Zambia.”

“Every day, my partner Jake and I traveled to remote villages – sometimes hours in the back of a truck – to meet farmer constituents of COMACO,” Laura says. “Each meeting was a unique opportunity to sit down and learn about the lives and farming practices of people we met. They were very generous with their stories. I was moved to hear about how many of them have benefited from altering their farming practices according to what COMACO taught them.”

Laura and Jake were assigned to interview poultry farmers and beekeepers.

“We interviewed about 300 farmers in all. I felt like I got to know them and develop a bond,” Jake says. “Even though we have very different lives, it was touching to see how much we have in common. They want the same things we do: to
better themselves, to eat and thrive, for their kids to be happy.”

At the end of the trip, participants prepared case studies of their findings and presented them to COMACO staff members, who will use the reports to help COMACO better serve Zambian farmers.

The team from FFA didn’t have to spend the whole trip working – they also went on a safari and saw elephants, hippos, impalas, kudus, giraffes and baboons in the wild.

“We saw some incredible animals; it was mind-blowing,” Jake says. “But my favorite part of the trip was definitely interacting with the villagers.”

Jake is majoring in agricultural leadership at Oklahoma State University and plans to pursue a career in agricultural sustainability abroad. Laura is studying animal science and hopes to land a career in international development
after college.

“Students should apply for this program not only because it’s a great adventure, but also because it offers exposure that will make you a well-rounded agriculturalist,” Laura says. “I believe those involved in food production are a critical resource in reducing poverty and social injustice around the world. Even for those who’d rather stay home than travel abroad, being involved in agriculture brings with it significant responsibility; we must be aware of how our policies affect others abroad. The FFA GO: Africa program is a good starting point for building that critical understanding.”

Africa Bound

Interested in getting a taste of global agriculture?

The FFA GO: Africa program is open to college-age members only. The 2011 trip takes place this summer, and the destination is Rwanda.

The application process for the 2012 FFA GO: Africa program will begin in early 2012. For the latest details, visit www.ffa.org/Programs/Global/GoAfrica.

You can read more about the 2010 trip in the participants’ own words on the National FFA Blog at ffa.org. Click on August 2010 in the archives.