With NGO, alums boost Rwandan smallholder farmers

As a child, Archibald Annan, M.P.A. '23, lived through the 1983 drought in Ghana that brought the country to the brink of starvation. In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, he felt history repeating itself, as numerous African countries plunged into a food security crisis due to their reliance on European grain.

But this time, Annan had an idea for how to help - and, as a master's student in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, he set out to leverage his capstone project to take action.

"That was a trigger for me," Annan said, "and I really wanted to do something that wouldn't just sit on the shelf but that I could translate into real-world practice."

Annan teamed up with fellow student Samantha Corkern, M.P.A. '23, who grew up in a small agricultural community in rural Colorado and whose mother had experienced extreme poverty as a child. Together, they turned the capstone project into a foundation and social enterprise, Walisha, that trains smallholder farmers in Rwanda to grow grains.

In only a year, Walisha has built partnerships with the University of Rwanda, the Rwanda Agricultural Board, agricultural entrepreneurs and farmer cooperatives on the ground. They've trained 40 extension officers (who hadn't received training in more than 20 years) in the latest sustainable agricultural practices - those officers are now working directly with nearly 3,700 farmers. Crucially, Walisha has partnered with a local nongovernmental organization to establish a direct line to a market, through a contract with the local subsidiary of Heineken, to buy the barley produced.

"Our hope is that an increase in yield will translate to an increase in income, which will translate to these farmers getting out of poverty in four seasons, or two years," Annan said. "Food security is at the top of our priorities but also giving these human beings behind the statistics a decent, good life and their own voice. This goal is synonymous with the goals of the capstone project at Cornell. It's about community, about human beings and how we are going to benefit humanity."

"It's truly rewarding to see Walisha come to fruition," said Edward Mabaya, research professor in global development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and adviser for Annan and Corkern's capstone project. "It's a pleasure to support such bright and driven young minds who share a passion for making a meaningful impact on Africa's agricultural value chains."

The capstone is an 18-month project for students pursing an executive master's in public administrationand gives students real-world experience in project management and public affairs. It's the kind of experiential learning that makes the program unique.

"The incredible work Archibald and Samantha do at the Walisha Foundation represents exactly the kind of impact the Brooks School hopes our alumni achieve in the world," said Thomas O'Toole, executive director of public affairs programming in the Brooks School's M.P.A. program. "That they were able to develop Walisha in the context of their rigorous executive M.P.A. program is testament to the vision, perseverance and skill both Archibald and Samantha will bring to revolutionizing agriculture in Africa."

From seed to sale

Last April, Corkern and Annan's mission came into focus when they visited a rural farming village in Rwanda where the poverty was glaring. But arable land where the community could grow grain was just a two-minute walk away.

"The question is: Why do we have a poverty problem in this village? Why are they unable to grow enough grains on this land and become financially independent and have a voice in the democratic conversation? It's because there is a knowledge and resource gap between the farmers and what they need to do," Annan said. "That is what we are trying to reverse and solve, to get the farmers out of poverty."

By closing that gap, Corkern and Annan hope to give farmers the tools to successfully farm grains and build more food security within Rwanda and East Africa, where imports of wheat and maize total $25 billion a year, and the current agricultural sectors focus on exporting cash crops like coffee, cocoa and tea.

"But those crops don't actually contribute to long-term sustainability of food security on the African continent," said Corkern, who said her experiences in her community and in 4-H motivated her to get involved. "This project really aligns with my personal values and background in bringing youth and entrepreneurs into agriculture. On a bigger scale, there's just this pressing need."

Corkern and Annan said their model aims for growth, scalability, long-term productivity, profitability and sustainability for smallholder farmers. With extension officers, Walisha developed nearly 20 hectares of wheat, barley and bean crops to pilot irrigation and precision farming technology. A next step is improving farmers' ability to store grain, so they aren't desperate to sell - and aren't beholden to buyers - as soon as they harvest. They also want to develop farmer cooperative- and community-owned flour mills to strengthen the value chains.

"Right now, Heineken is dictating the price," Annan said. "But we're hoping that as yields increase, and they're not losing 50% of the harvest due to the storage issues, they'll not have to be bullied by the big firms."

Annan added that they hope to scale up their model next year to involve 15,000 farmers, with plans to expand beyond Rwanda and serve the greater East Africa region.

Their approach differs from many NGOs, which often make large, one-time investments that don't set the farmers up for long-term success, Corkern said. "What we found in talking with some of the cooperatives is that they're really looking for longer term support," she said. "We're going from seed to sale and are looking at it holistically."

Cornell has been essential to their foundation - from classes to connections and the capstone itself, the alums said. Cornell faculty and staff have served as informal and formal advisers for the project and have helped Annan and Corkern develop a systems approach suited to the complexity of the challenge.

"This program was about how to bring the private sector, the public sector and the social sector together to solve the world's public problems," Annan said. "It became more apparent week after week, learning the lessons in the classroom, getting the data, that we could make this into something big."

Corkern and Annan agreed that one of the most meaningful moments so far was that visit to the poor farming village in the south of Rwanda. "The pure desperation for the basic amenities was overwhelming … That poverty felt very real to me," said Corkern, whose mother grew up in rural Ohio without running water and indoor plumbing or electricity for much of her upbringing. "We were silent on the ride home. I was crying. It was a hard moment but also very validating: like, we're meant to be here."

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