Project Breadbasket: A Program of Projects and Innovation Network to Transfer Successful  Smallholder Agriculture Strategies from Latin America to Africa

The Fiorello H. LaGuardia Foundation, in partnership with AGRA (The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa), is sponsoring a Brazil Workshop, as part of Project Breadbasket, a program of projects and its dedicated innovation network, to transfer successful smallholder agricultural strategies from Latin America to Africa. The purpose of the invitation-only workshop is to support South-to-South transfer of technologies to the eight selected African learning sites in order to sustainably enhance the incomes of the 400,000+ smallholders involved. The workshop will allow the African project teams to draw on the experience of Brazilian farmers and Brazilian and international experts to facilitate the adoption of conservation agriculture practices and expanded access to value-added production by the targeted smallholders. The resulting  program of projects will enjoy the support of a dedicated inter-disciplinary innovation network comprised of individual experts and institutions who will provide precisely targeted and on-going technical support for each project. Project Breadbasket will identify an additional three years of funding to enable the projects to reach maturity and to fully develop its value chains with the support of the innovation network. 

For more information on this initiative please visit: http://projectbreadbasket.org/

Copenhagen, Denmark -- On December 11, 2009 during the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15-UNFCCC), the Fiorello H. LaGuardia Foundation presented the “One World Award” to Bakir Lozane of Lozane Farms, Maputo, Mozambique and to José Roberto Fonseca of Instituto Eco-Engenho, Maceio, Brazil in recognition of their work in clean technology transfer advancing sustainable agriculture.  The award was presented by LaGuardia Foundation board member and Chief Climate Negotiator for Costa Rica, Dr. Alvaro Umaña and by Mr. Elmer Holt, Chairman of the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI) and Climate Negotiator for the United States.

Mr. Bakir Lozane is a Mozambican farmer-entrepreneur who owns a successful business producing seeds for SEMOC, the Government of Mozambique seed company.  An expert in mine removal, Mr. Lozane gained rights to his land holdings in Zambezia Province by clearing mines left from the Mozambican civil war.