LAMP Achievements Lauded by Satisfied Farmers
When they first contacted USAID’s Linking Agricultural Markets to Producers (LAMP) project in 2005 asking for assistance, farmers from the Cazin-based Krajinamlijeko Cooperative in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) were skeptical.
“Many projects are implemented in this country and sometimes we do not see a real impact. But LAMP proves that you do not need a lot of money to achieve results. You just need to make a lot of efforts and the results will come along,” says Smajo Hadzalic, director of the cooperative.
Through LAMP, 880 farmers from the Una-Sana Canton attended trainings to learn how to run their cow farms more efficiently. “Our milk production jumped from 8,000 liters to 12,000 liters a day since cooperative members attended the seminars and training, says Hadzalic proudly. “Several years ago, farmers were trying to sell milk individually. It was hard for them to find a buyer for small quantities and the price was low. We received a grant from LAMP to purchase milk cooling tanks. Now we sell everything we produce to a large dairy which offered the best price.”
USAID launched LAMP in 2003 to increase the competitiveness of BiH’s agricultural sector by strengthening the market chain. The project provided $8 million in grants to four local micro-credit organizations which allocated small loans to more than 5,400 BiH farmers. LAMP awarded 136 grants to cooperatives which leveraged additional private investments in agriculture totaling over $3.4 million. With LAMP’s support, local counterparts successfully advocated for the adoption of the milk quality decree in the Republika Srpska, and the Plant Protection Agency rule book at the state level.
“The challenges of the dairy sector cannot be addressed by one project alone. But we can make progress one step at a time. I believe that we are one step closer to a stronger and more competitive dairy sector in BiH,” said USAID/BiH Mission Director Jane Nandy.
Over the last five years, working with BiH partners, LAMP helped sign contracts for traders, processors, and producers, valued at more than $11 million. The project was closed out earlier in 2008.
“As returnees to Bosanska Krupa, we started from scratch. We had a piece of land owned by the family and we had no idea how to turn it into an orchard. After receiving LAMP’s training and new seedling varieties of apples, pears, blackberries and strawberries, we plan to expand the orchard from 10 hectares to 20 hectares,” says Besima Ezic, a fruit producer who attended LAMP’s closeout ceremony. “We literally learned how to do this business. We are sad that the project ended this spring, but now we know how to run a business on our own. For me, it is the biggest of LAMP’s achievements.”
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| Besima Ezic credits USAID with teaching her how to manage her business, which has enabled her family to double the size of its orchard. |
Smajo Hadzalic’s milk cooling tank helped increase sales. |
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