A Ghanaian agricultural economist said: “When the stop order came, everything that was in the field had to be left in the field. Plants and crops were literally abandoned. To just cut the ones that are already ongoing, especially ones that are already in the field, for me, I think that was more of a waste of money than saving money.”
Date: 2/26
Region: Africa
Country: Ghana
Topic: Food & Farming, Research & Development
Policy Lens: Global Health Security
Entry Type: Field Observation
Additional Context: According to Devex's reporting, a new venture, Responsible Innovations, emerged as former USAID-backed researchers sought to preserve years of food systems research and global partnerships.
This quote is attributed to Freda Asem, an agricultural economist and senior lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Ghana. She served as the West Africa regional hub coordinator for the Horticulture Innovation Lab and oversaw the field plots of okra and tamarind that were forced to be abandoned due to the U.S. funding cuts.
While some Feed the Future innovation labs have slowly received partial funding since the initial freeze, only Kansas State University's work on climate-resilient grains continued completely unscathed. Agricultural research on farms and laboratories carrying out Feed the Future projects across the world was interrupted and lost.
Source: Devex