USC Canada built its capacity to support the production and natural resource management components of resilient and sustainable food systems over a twenty-five year period. Through sustained investment in applied research, training, innovative field programming, as well as a readiness to learn from our mistakes, we have positioned ourselves as a strong actor in seed and food security work. While there is always room for improvement, we can point to a number of encouraging outcomes, ranging from reductions in the hunger period and increased dietary diversity among participating farm families to the systematic conservation and use of seed and farming practices more able to handle climate change.

Our rural economy program, aimed at increasing family income, is providing farmers with a wide range of options to develop and engage in a variety of agriculture-based market enterprises. Though small in scale, farmers, particularly women and youth, have started earning income through such activities. Women’s economic empowerment has increased, as has the number of youth who are willing to stay on the farm. Our SoS community has, however, comparatively less experience when it comes to this retail end of the family farm. There is the need, therefore, to learn more about market strategies and test strategies designed to achieve scale in the marketing of biodiversity-based products and ecological agriculture. USC Canada’s 2015-2020 global South SoS program has been designed both to deepen the quality of our work and to promote its adoption among a much broader set of actors. Market literacy and small business development were identified as critical elements in bringing this program to scale.

Objective of the project:

To improve in supporting the entrepreneurial side of farming, with a view to establishing an on-going learning and innovation fund related to farmers’ livelihood security and to help farmers – especially women and youth– to launch, or strengthen, micro-to-small scale enterprises related to the sale of their biodiversity and ecologically grown production (seed, grains, vegetable crops, agro-forestry products, value-added food) and organic inputs.

Expected Result:

Farmer trainers and coaches equipped to assist fellow farmers with marketing and small enterprise development.

Activities of the Project:

Provide training on Entrepreneurship development, women rights, Capacity building training, Value chain study on vermi compost,  Implementing committee coordination meeting, Grant provide to the research group, Sales of Organic Product through Mobile Vendor, Develop Collection point at community, Promotional activity of Organic Product, Start-Up and Small-Business Facilitation, Develop Market Corner at Upazila

Location of the project:

Union: Goreya & Salandar, Upazila- Thakurgaon Sadar, Dist.- Thakurgaon,

No. of Project Participants: 440 women entrepreneur.

Project duration: Since April,2016

Financed by: USC Canada.