FARMER RESILIENCE IN MADAGASCAR In 2021, we started our most impactful project in Madagascar to date. In part- nership with our supplier, Virginia Dare, Frontier Co-op committed $240,000 over a three-year period to increase stability and resilience in our vanilla grow- ing communities, made up of 11 cooperatives and 1,200 farmers. The project focuses on two key components: 1) improving food security and income diversification; and 2) encouraging cooperatives to use village savings and loan associations (VSLAs) to build their financial resilience. The first component – improving food security and income diversification – in- cludes supporting farmers as they implement a diversified regenerative agrofor- estry model for both vanilla and subsistence crops. This model is rehabilitating degraded agricultural plots of land by improving ecosystems through soil and water conservation, pollination services, organic pest control, and improving irrigation. It also includes diversifying the crops farmers are raising, with empha- sis on surplus production and commercialization of comestible crops, to improve food security and stabilize income. In 2023 and 2024, Virginia Dare conducted eight trainings on agroecological principles, and 15 lead farmers (12 women and three men) and 30 “follower” farmers completed the first year of a three-year training on regenerative agroforestry. The second component – encouraging cooperatives to use VSLAs – is aimed at giving farmers more control over their financial stability and economically em- powering women in their communities. VSLAs are self-managed lending groups, usually made up of 20 to 25 members from the same village, that offer savings, insurance and loan services to the members. At least 75% of members must be women, and individual roles and specific procedural rules are determined by the group, ensuring autonomy and independence. This component of the project involves significant support by the Virginia Dare team. In 2023 and 2024, 16 field officers were deployed for 12 to 14 months to offer training and activities focused on financial management, entrepreneurship, and resilient business practices. To date, three VSLAs made up of 74 members (of whom 83% are women) have saved approximately $3,000, generating profits of 14 to 23% for each member. Frontier Co-op looks forward to continuing to make these kinds of investments to improve resilience for smallholder vanilla farmers in the future.
Photo (top): Farmers gather for a meeting of their Village Savings and Loan Association. Photo (middle left): A woman leads a co-op training on the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) model. Photo (middle right): A trainer teaches smallholder farmers about regenerative agroforestry. Photo (bottom): A smallholder farmer in Madagascar tends to her crops.
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