TORCHLIGHT GROUP INCREG NO: SW/GP/29/07/6294

Email : torchlightgroupinc@gmail.com Website : www.torchgroup.tk

Tel: +23753799391, +23776820935

PROJECT TITLE:HELP CASSAVA FARMERS FEED 5 MILLION CAMEROONOANS

LOCATIONMamfe, South West Region Cameroon, Africa

START DATEFeb 2015

FUNDING DURATIONUp to24MONTHS

FUNDING REQUESTED88, 050 USD

COST SHARE10,050 USD

TOTAL BUDGET98,050 USD

IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONTORCHLIGHT GROUP

CONTACT:Eyongmanyo Remi Ntuinokuk

CEO/Managing DirectorTorchlight Group

Tel: +23776820935, +23753799391Email: remintui@gmail.com

Website: www.torchlightgroup.tk

Project Title: HELP CASSAVA FAMERS FEED 5 MILLION CAMEROONIANS

THE PROBLEM

More than 5 million people in Cameroon are affected by severe hunger and poverty due to severe drought and floods. Many are farmers who rely on small plots of land (about one to two acres) for their food and income. From the 1960s to early 1990s, the “Green Revolution” in the Americas and Asia —a sweeping effort to transform farming methods and improve staple crops such as

Flooded farmlands of Cameroon

maize, wheat, and rice—helped to double food production and saved hundreds of millions of lives. Many donors subsequently shifted their attention to other concerns, believing that the problem of inadequate food supply in the developing world had been solved. This was not the case in Cameroon

and CEMAC zone being part of Sub-Saharan Africa, however, where some Green Revolution approaches were tried but failed. Meanwhile, in the intervening years, population growth, rising incomes, dwindling natural resources, and a changing climate have

Severe drought destroys maize crop

caused food prices to rise and agricultural productivity has once again become strained.

Many of those affected are smallholder farmers. Three-quarters of Cameroon’s poorest people get their food and income by farming small plots of land about a size less than a football field. Most of them

barely get by—struggling with unproductive soil, plant diseases, pests, and drought.

Reliable markets for their products and good information about pricing are hard to come by, and government policies rarely serve their interests well due to corruption.

People move in search for food

These factors, in turn, put millions of families at risk for poverty and hunger as well as malnutrition—Cameroon’s most serious health problem (especially in the North) and the single biggest contributor to child mortality.

OUR SOLUTION AND EXPECTED OUTCOME

The initiative employs the services of Audio conferencing (a VoIP application) to network farmers with Agricultural extension officers, researchers, agronomist, etc. These technical officers provide the much

needed Agricultural extension services to farmers and other Agricultural value chain actors to enhance agricultural productivity. Our beneficiaries are farming families, groups, and the end product consumers. As a mobile application, Audio conferencing is setup for Agricultural extension services with the aid of a mobile phone, a mobile network service, the activation of an audio conferencing system and a portable loud speaker to enhance the communication flow.

Extension worker with local farmer on farm survey

As an ICT driven methodology for the provision of participatory and demand driven Agricultural Extension service, this unique extension delivery approach is facilitated by Community Agricultural Information (CAI) officers who provide diverse technical support to farmers and Agricultural technical support officers to promote capacity development and knowledge transfer.

This ICT driven approach to Agricultural Extension Service delivery is therefore a private –public partnership approach in enhancing the provision of demand driven and Market oriented Agricultural Extension Services to equip farmers and other Agricultural value chain actors with the desired capacity development to increase productivity for an enhanced household and national food security. Farmers through the initiative receive technical guidance on: good agronomic and cassava cultivation practices, post-harvest management, climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives, Agribusiness planning and Management, Market access etc.

Local farmer uprooting cassava from her farm with extension officers

Goal: Helping cassava farmers produce more food and increase their income, while preserving the land for future generations. Helping women farmers is one of our top priorities because women do much of the agricultural work and their well-being affects the health, welfare, and education of their children.

Crop in Focus: Cassava

Why?

Cassava is seen as key to boosting food security amid climate change. Generally called a “crop of last resort”, they can grow on poor soils and in difficult climatic conditions, and require little or no fertilizers. Cassava; the crop of last resort, more resistant to drought and floods

It is more resistant to drought as well as other climates including very hot temperatures, and matures in 12 months. About 80 percent of Cameroonian households, most of them subsistence farmers, consume cassava on a daily.

OUR APPROACH AND EXPECTED RESULTS

Our approach is based on the following principles:

•Listening to farmers and addressing their specific needs: Setting up of discussion groups. We shall talk to farmers about the crops they want to grow and eat, as well as the unique challenges they face.

•Increasing farm productivity: We shall set up a comprehensive approach to helping smallholder farmers prosper that includes access to heartier seeds, more effective tools and farm management practices, locally relevant knowledge, emerging digital technologies, and reliable markets.

•Creation of a transformation/packaging Center and distribution Network: We shall also set up a transformation, packaging center assist poor farmers with the facility and expertise to transform and package their farm outputs for free. Distribution centers shall also be set up to ensure proportionate distribution of finished products nationwide and in CEMAC Zone

Traditional Cassava Presser

•Fostering sustainable agricultural practices: In an era of increasingly scarce resources and growing

impact of climate change, we shall encourage farmers to embrace and adopt our sustainable practices that will help them grow more with less land, water, fertilizer, and other costly inputs while preserving natural resources for future generations.

Extension officer undergoes the farmer’s pains of traditional Gari sifting and frying method

•Access and Market Systems: We look for ways to strengthen knowledge exchange through technologies such as mobile phones and radio. With this approach, we shall help farmers hone their business management skills, gain greater purchasing power and marketing leverage, and improve their crop and resource management skills. Additional priorities include helping farmers improve their storage and post-harvest activities, meet quality and quantity commitments, link to large-scale and reliable markets, and establish partnerships with buyers, processors, and farmers’ organizations

objectives

Your Funds will help us meet the following objectives

Increase Cassava farmers’ productivity (from 20 tons/Hta to 35 tons/Hta) and income (from 1 to 5 dollar per day) by at least 30% for the first year,

Increase cassava tuber transformation rate to its finished products of Gari, Flour and Fufu by producing at least 10000 tons for the first year.

Create a network of packaged cassava finished products distribution system all over the 10 regions of Cameroon with at least 100 distributors nationwide.

Gari: Eatable Cassava finished product

BENEFICIARIES

This project is designed to meet over 1300 farming families and groups within three years and over 10 million cassava consumers of about 1.5million households within 3-10 years

Direct Beneficiaries

Farming Families:

Women: 1000

Men: 700

Farming Groups: 500 (Each farming group has an average number of 100 farmers)

Total direct beneficiaries is expected to be 1300 for the first 3 three years with a growth rate of 10% per year as the project expends

Indirect Beneficiaries: End Product Consumers (General public): 10 Million consumers of about 1.5 million household

N/B: it is assumed that the average number of members per household is 8

COMPETING SOLUTIONS

There are many other groups that exist in this sector of operation. Most of which are NGOs, CIGs, Cooperatives and small farming groups. They

cultivate and transform cassava into finished products for profit purposes only. Our innovation differs in that it

is a Mobile Telephone Agricultural project. It provides Market information and cassava farming guidance and follow-up. It is Farmer oriented as well as profit oriented. It provides a new packaging and storage technology to prevent cassava food losses. It ensures food distribution throughout the national territory. It is Broader and the above mentioned existing solutions will also benefit greatly from it.

AVENUES FOR SCALE UP

We are committed to communicating our strategy more effectively and sharing what we’ve learned with donors and other partners, including governments, nongovernmental organizations, traditional and emerging donors, and the private sector. Our resources, while significant, represent only a fraction of what is needed. Collaborating effectively with others will maximize our long lasting collective impact in helping farming families.

SUSTAINABILITY

This Project is expected to generate at least 55600 USD as annual income from its transformation/packaging Center and distribution Network approach. This can be use to support operational cost after funding period. The project will obtain cassava cutting from the Cameroon’s National Development Programme for Roots and Tubers (PNDRT). Cassava cuts given to farmers can be re-treated planted again in the subsequent year after harvesting. The project shall also use Peace Corps volunteers to act as Community Agricultural Information (CAI) officers

MANAGEMENT TEAM

The project will employ six full time and one part time staffProject Director: (Full Time) Responsible for- hiring project staff - Overseeing project development and operation - establishing and maintaining links with local government agencies - The budget. The project director shall be Mr Fomelac George. Mr Fomelac George has over 25yrs of experience as an agric Engineer with the ministry of Agriculture.

Technical Officers (full time) Responsible for: - The transformation unit - Developing working relationship with formal and informal community leaders, - Establishing links to community women farming organization, and small farmers

Volunteer Coordinator (full time) Responsible for: - Recruiting volunteers (Field Workers) - Developing and offering, training programs for volunteers- Schedule volunteers for Field services Accountant: (full time) Responsible for - Financial activities of the center (payment, receipt),

- Establish the financial statement/ Balance sheet of the project Project Evaluator (Part Time) Responsible for; - Collecting entry level data on number of participants and conducts periodic assessment of changes in their level of output, comprehension and application of skills gained. - Developing and implementing a system for periodic formative and summative evaluation

Community Agricultural Information Officers: (Full Time) Responsible for;- Training and monitoring farmers and field workers, - Routine correspondence and other forms of communication with Local Farmers in the community

Field Workers (Full Time), Responsible for:These are volunteers. They shall provide support to local farmers, and assist in monitoring farmers operation. Perform regular reporting on field operations and challenges

Governing Board: Made up of representatives from the community, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of small and medium size enterprises, and Members of Torchlight. Responsible for sanctioning the operation of the project, and policy development

PARTNERS

Present Partners

AfroVision Group: Shall provide the project assistance in Web based messaging, mobile app development and assist in website and VoIP application administration and maintenance

Future Partners

Peace Corps: Shall provide agricultural volunteers

MTN: this will be a future partner to provide network coverage for all farmers in the network.

DESCRIPTION OF LEAD ORGANIZATION. This project is designed by Torchlight Group CIG as the lead organization, torchlight have seven years extensive experience in project development and implementation in the following areas:1) Education training and technology2) Orphanage and hospital outreach3) Agriculture and food processing4) Movie and music

Torchlight’s main missionTorchlight was created in 2007 a community and humanitarian development organization. Since 2007, the organization has implemented various projects that has improved the lives of humanity especially those of the woman and the girl child. In 2009 the organization expanded its services to orphanages and hospitals. Most of our activities are focused on the girl child and the woman although for some projects we consider both genders.

MissionOur mission is to fight against food crisis, hunger, food insecurity, poverty and unemployment especially amongst the women and the girl child.In effect to this, our organizations seeks to bring about gender balance in respect to economic status, education/ leadership skills, through project development and implementationObjectives

To impact at least 100 children each year 70% of which should be the girl child through our education program, hospital and orphanage outreach projects

To economically impact at least 50 rural women each year through our economic development

projects To ensure food availability, food security and employment opportunities through our agricultural

development and research projects

MARKETING PLAN

The project shall make use of the radio, TVs, flyers, community and village meetings, posters and handbills to market its vision

EVALUATION PLAN

The project shall compare baseline data and project data. A corresponding formative evaluation will gather information on the impact of this project in six main areas:

The number of male, female and group famers involved in the project and have taken cassava production as a business

The individual and collective farm output of each participant The cost saving as a result of Mobile Telephone driven agricultural information system of each

farming group or family participating in the project The increase in income of each benefiting farming family/group as a result of sales of farm

outputs through our access and markets/Distribution systems approach The quantity and quality of cassava finished products (Gari, Fufu, flour) produced per year

through the transformation center approach. The number of distribution centres created nationwide and their corresponding annual sales

volume This data will assist Torchlight to develop a system of best practices to empower the grassroots

farmers across the nation to make a living wage while reducing food crises, food insecurity, and hunger

Generally, this project will go as far as commercializing cassava production and transformation in Cameroon. Your funds will enable Torchlight to assess the profitability, sustainability and commercialization of cassava production, transformation and marketing as a factor to combat Household poverty and household/national food insecurity. Torchlight shall develop monthly progress reports and newsletters to inform donors about the success of the project. This will be conveyed to donors through emails and can be accessed by donors through the projects website

CITTATIONS

Cassava, Africa's Food Security Crop: http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/Mar96/4cas2.htm

An overview of traditional processing and utilization of cassava in Africahttp://www.fao.org/wairdocs/ilri/x5458e/x5458e05.htm

IRIN Africa | CAMEROON: New cassava species could boost food security http://www.irinnews.org/report/96767/cameroon-new-cassava-species-could-boost-food-security

allAfrica.com: InFocus » Cameroon Tries to Beat Food Shortageshttp://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00018455.html

World Bank Group finance to link small farmers to market opportunities in Cameroonhttp://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/09/25/world-bank-group-finance-to-link-small-farmers-to-market-opportunities-in-cameroon

https://www.wfp.org/content/millions-risk-african-drought https://www.wfp.org/content/lessons-unlearned-why-another-gigantic-famine-looms-africa REFERENCES

Small farms training scheme for cassava tubers, planting and transform project by torchlight and MICROEDEC contact: Mr Fomelac George, Agric Engineer, Ministry Of Agriculture Tel:+23777734597

Orphanage outreach project by torchlight – Rainbow orphanage zone, contact: Pst. Bisong fritzs,General Overseer Living Springs Church, MamfeTel:+23775815706

Hospital humanitarian support scheme zone, Full Gospel Hospital, contact:Mrs. Eyong Rosemary EnowOperations Manager, Hospital Relief ProjectTorchlight GroupTel:+23777594570

Movie and music action training scheme; Torchlight 2010 – present: contact:Mr Agbortabi EricCEO/PresidentMICROEDEC, CameroonTel:+23772791269