In addition to new agricultural techniques, basic business management and literacy skills, USAID-sponsored Adventist Relief and Development Agency (ADRA), a faith-based NGO, has been using micro-credit as an effective tool to help promote food security in Middle and Upper Guinea. In Siguiri, for example, ADRA has given out micro-loans to women’s and men’s agricultural co-ops just prior to the planting season to enable them to buy inputs such as improved seeds and tools, which they would not be able to afford otherwise. Regular seeds cost about $1.00/kilo, while improved varieties are much more expensive—$3.00/kilo or more. The use of micro-credit for inputs has promoted the use of improved seeds, allowing for a much higher yields, and, in the end, better food security.(more)

Silver Spring, Maryland–The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is helping to reverse the cycle of poverty among low-income families by training impoverished farmers in the semi-arid Bahia region of northeastern Brazil in polyculture cultivation methods. The environmentally sustainable, low-cost agricultural methods help families increase their household income and living standards.(more)