CATALIST
Burundi • DR Congo • Rwanda
Catalyze Agricultural Intensification for Social and Environmental Stability
a project for the great lakes region of central africa
Case Study: CAPAD CATALIST Facilitates Capacity Building in Farmers’ Organizations
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François Uwimana works in the small shop he and his wife opened using money from his participation in CAPAD. Among the useful items he sells is fertilizer.
FDC helps increase the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers through the development of competitive and sustainable agricultural value chains. IFDC targets the entire value chain – from input distribution to agricultural production, processing, storage, transportation and trade. IFDC staff focus on capacity building – working within the value chain to foster productivity and link farmers to input and output markets. Activities include strengthening producer and trade associations and developing market information systems that serve producers, traders, processors and consumers. IFDC also works to create enabling policies for the free movement of inputs and greater intra-regional trade of produce. The Confederation of Agricultural Producer Associations for Development (CAPAD) is a key partner of the IFDC-managed CATALIST project in Burundi. CAPAD evolved from PROTAO, a producers’ organization which collapsed in 2003. According to Matthias Miburo, CAPAD’s Legal Representative, it was PROTAO’s lack of
sustainability that led 25 associations to start CAPAD, a more durable organization. The Confederation received ministerial approval on December 31, 2003. In an effort to establish a more effective organization, CAPAD was restructured three years later. CAPAD’s members come from more than 20,000 households in 11 of the country’s 17 provinces. Several crops, including cassava, potato, maize and rice, were selected by CAPAD members for value chain development during the 2006 Annual General Meeting. Since then, co-ops in every commune have organized into farm groups around these commodity chains. “Our strong partnership with CATALIST is self-evident. CAPAD includes 72 cooperative organizations, of which nine are rice producers. All of the rice cooperatives were involved in the initial stages of the Inventory Credit System,” stated Ildephonse Nahimana, a Super Facilitation Contract Officer at CAPAD. The following case study will demonstrate how establishing a union of cooperatives can enhance the lives of farmers and their families.