Together #AgainstHunger and #AgainstPoverty

Curlstar Karegi is the Chairperson and Founder of the Youth Agripreneurs Network in Vihiga, Western Kenya. Her project advances various value chains, such as African leafy vegetables. The members of their youth organization, young agropreneurs from the region, are trained in innovative farming methods, including vertical gardening. “Our contribution to end hunger is to help each of our members produce at least six kilograms of African leafy vegetables per week. That is enough to ensure that none of their family members sleep hungry for a whole full week,” said Curlstar Karegi. Vertical gardening can be used to produce vegetables in a small space.

Euphrasie Dassoundo Assogba, managing director of Agro Express is located five thousand kilometers away in Cotonou, Benin. Her company processes vegetables such as tomatoes, garlic and ginger into puree. In light of this, she made an agreement with farmers from the municipality of Kpomassè: Euphrasie Assogba buys their produce from them at a fair price and then processes it completely. “In 2020 there were no contracts with farmers in my region, today there are around ten,” says Euphrasie Assogba. The company offers not only financial but also planning stability for farmers through guaranteeing the purchase of the produce. This also helps reduce food waste.

Carla Barboto is the managing director of Paccari Chocolate in the capital of Ecuador, Quito. Her company works with more than 3,500 small farmers who are paid a stable price for their cocoa beans and are therefore independent of global market prices. In this way, Carla Barboto hopes to stop migration from rural areas to cities and at the same time empower women in rural areas. With this, says Carla Barboto: “Paccari doesn’t just want to be the best chocolate in the world, but the best chocolate for the world.”

For German development policy, combating hunger and poverty is a question of global social justice. With the special initiative “Life without hunger - transformation of agricultural and food systems”, German development policy is helping to combat hunger and malnutrition worldwide and expand social security systems. You can read even more stories about people and their projects on the BMZ campaign website.