Humphrey Fellows collaborate with SAREP

By Rita Agboh-Noameshie, Humphrey Program/SAREP

UC SAREP hosted three UC Davis Humphrey Fellows beginning in April 2004. Founded in 1978 in honor of the late senator and vice president, the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program encourages a variety of U.S. and foreign partnerships worldwide. During their Fellowship year, Humphrey Fellows participate in professional development activities and graduate-level academic coursework. The program is not a degree program, but rather is designed to provide broad professional enrichment through a combination of activities tailored to each Fellow’s interests. All Fellows participate in workshops and conferences that provide interaction with leaders from U.S. federal, state, and local governments, multinational organizations and the private sector.

Fellowships are awarded competitively to candidates with a commitment to public service in both the public and private sectors. The main fields of interest are natural resources and environmental management, public policy analysis and administration, law and human rights, finance and banking, economic development, agricultural development/economics, human resource management, urban and regional planning, public health policy and management, technology policy and management, educational planning, teaching of English as a foreign language and drug abuse, epidemiology, and education.

Three Fellows from the 2004 class, Afiavi Rita Agboh-Noameshie of Togo, West Africa, Suzan M. Al-Ajjawi of Bahrain, and Yao Nguessan of Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, worked on a project for SAREP’s organic farming research and education initiative. They conducted an impact assessment project of three UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) organic farming programs in Ventura, Humboldt and Marin counties that were supported by a SAREP grant from the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation. The integrated research and educational activities were aimed at helping growers improve their organic farming and marketing practices. Jenny Broome, SAREP associate director, supervised their work, and Paul Marcotte, director of the UC Davis Humprey Fellows Program, provided direction as a social scientist.

A mix of methodologies was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data including a literature review followed by interviews, focus sessions and surveys of county growers and other interested clientele in each county, as well as interviews with the county directors and program coordinators.

Focus sessions were conducted to assess user needs and experience after two years of program implementation. In each county, growers were invited to a focus session in which they discussed benefits they have derived from the program, as well as current needs they wanted UCCE to address.

In each county, the evaluation team visited farms and research sites and talked with growers and UCCE staff about their experience with the organic program, including benefits gained and particular challenges that might need more attention.

A survey questionnaire was prepared for each county, taking into consideration the characteristics of the production zone. A questionnaire placing emphasis on row and tree cropping systems was developed for Ventura County, while dairy products and animal care in addition to row and tree crops were considered for Marin and Humboldt counties.

Geographic information system (GIS) was used to map suitable farmlands using a digital elevation model to identify the location of organic farms. The parcel database including all organic farmers from the three counties is a valuable asset and will be further developed to include more parameters such as annual yield for each commodity.

Based on the focus sessions and interviews, the organic farming impact assessment effort has found that most of the participating growers were enthusiastic and feel very positively about the organic farming program. In the three counties, most wanted the program to continue and see it become permanent. The county directors and coordinators are very confident about their programs, their roles, and acknowledge the valuable collaboration and support from SAREP and the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation. They suggested that greater collaboration in research and extension work among the counties with similar organic programs would be valuable and worth encouraging.

Completed survey questionnaires are still arriving at the SAREP offices; over the next few months, data will be analyzed and a final report produced.

The 2004 Humphrey Program ended on June 11. Two of the Fellows, Agboh-Noameshie and Nguessan, have been able to extend their stay in California. Agboh-Noameshie will remain at SAREP and work on the survey analysis through the summer and write a final report. Nguessan will be working with SAREP and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) developing a Web site with map-based information on organic farming operations in California.

Agboh-Noameshie is the National Coordinator of Farming Systems Research and Technology Transfer in Togo, West Africa. She has a doctorate in agronomy/crop production from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Agboh-Noameshie is responsible for ensuring that farmers are able to adopt technologies from research institutes by working with extension programs and development organizations.

Al-Ajjawi has a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering of the University of Bahrain. She serves as head of the technical coordination section at the Environment and Wildlife Directorate of Bahrain.

Nguessan is Chef de Service de la Banque des Données Minières Sodemi (Société pour le développement minier de la Côte d’Ivoire) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He has been database/LAN manager and responsible for the Geo Information Management Systems Project. He has a Master of Science degree in geoscience from Ohio University, where he majored in geophysics and seismic data processing.