Lewes resident David Bernheisel assists farm in Angola, Africa

David Bernheisel of Lewes recently traveled to Angola, Africa as a volunteer of the United States Agency for International Development-supported Farmer-to-Farmer program. The John Ogonoski and Doug Bereauter Farmer-to-Farmer program relies on the expertise of U.S. volunteers to provide technical assistance to farmers, farm groups and agribusinesses in developing countries to promote sustainable capacity building. Bernheisel spent three weeks with the staff of Magave Farm in northwestern Angola.

The farm, in existence now for nine years, raises a diverse mix of crops and animals on its 3,700 acres of land. Together, Bernheisel and the farm staff developed a model to project the costs and expenses for various farm products. The resultant system will be used in product selection to optimize the farm's resources and improve the farm workers' income levels.

"Dave Bernheisel's assistance has helped us project future opportunities and develop a strategy to take advantage of those opportunities to benefit our farm members," said Magave Manager Kuadilua Figueredo. "We understand how to raise animals and make crops grow. His assistance took us into the management and planning side of our operation and will help us use our agricultural knowledge to optimize our farm output and ultimately our members' incomes. This type of assistance gives us the ability to use the resources we have most effectively."

In southern Africa, the Farmer-to-Farmer program is implemented by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture, an international nonprofit organization that specializes in enterprise-based agricultural development initiatives designed to facilitate market access, enhance agribusiness competitiveness and improve rural livelihoods in the developing world. CNFA manages the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program in Angola, Mozambique and Malawi. This most recent trip was one of 13 F2F assignments in Eastern Europe and Africa for Bernheisel, with his first dating back to 1994.

For more information, go to www.CNFA.org.