1. Angola

Having completed its first-ever national agricultural survey, Angola has adopted the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to strengthen the impact of the National Development Plan. The farmer field schools programme, launched jointly with FAO in 2006, has grown tremendously and now provides a vital support to the plan. The aim is to expand a principal part of the National Development Plan from its current 100,000 participants to 1 million using the HIH approach. The work is funded by Angola’s agriculture-oriented unilateral trust fund agreement.

2. Bangladesh

Despite having made remarkable progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, Bangladesh still faces challenges, with 20 percent of the population living below the national poverty line. The Government has committed to moving the farming sector to a more commercial, mechanized and diversified sector. In this context, the HIH Initiative is becoming a key support for the government’s priority Agriculture Transformation Programme, which seeks to modernize the agriculture sector through interventions such as agro-mechanization, agro-processing, post-harvest processing, cold chain, and safe value chain strategies; engagement of private sector associations, international finance partners, national banks and investors; and adoption of climate-smart agricultural systems to build resilience.

3. Bhutan

Bhutan has engaged the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to support four priority areas: enterprise development and marketing; climate-smart agriculture and sustainable farming; food security and nutrition; and GIS platforms and digitalization of farming. The Government has undertaken baseline studies to identify key constraints and opportunities. Together with the Hand-in-Hand task force team, the Government has initiated the development of typologies.

4. Burundi

The Initiative started in Burundi in late 2021, with the Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock indicating expectations for strong support from the Hand-in-Hand process for five strategic priorities, including increasing productivity and quality of food through the establishment of agricultural growth zones ("centres de rayonnement") and breeding centres, with a focus on transformation and fortification. The HIH team is currently working with the Government on several analytical products, including agricultural typologies and territorial analyses. The team is also conducting analysis on institutional and governance aspects related to decentralization, land, water and forest tenure, and the development-humanitarian-peace nexus.

5. Ecuador

6. El Salvador

The Initiative in El Salvador supports the national RECLIMA programme, which aims to strengthen the resilience of farmers against climate change. It also supports the agriculture ministry’s Agricultural Rescue Master Plan, which has a fully compatible approach with HIH. An investment note on the coffee value chain in the Tecapa Chinameca mountain range, a prioritized territory, is being prepared. The HIH task force is working together with the Salvadoran Coffee Council to obtain data on the coffee value chain. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is focused on modernizing the coffee sector, taking into consideration environmental impact as well as the domestic market and export of “special coffee.”

7. Ethiopia

The HIH Initiative in Ethiopia seeks to accelerate agricultural transformation and rural development, building on existing work supporting the development and implementation of the Integrated Agro-Industrial Park Policy. Several analytical products to support evidence-based decision making are under development. These include a quantitative poverty profile of the agricultural sector, as well as a poverty, food security, and nutrition baseline and territorial assessments in the Agro-Commodity Procurement Zones. The ACPZ Investment Plans successfully raised US$680 million to build small- and medium-scale irrigation and post-harvest and storage infrastructure over five years.  

The most recent partner to come on board is Digital Green, a platform for disseminating agricultural knowledge to farmers. Another important partner is the Agricultural Transformation Agency, a government agency, which has produced several studies on the transformation of the sector.

8. Gabon

9. Guatemala

In Guatemala, 46 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and every third job in the country is in the agriculture sector. Almost 600,000 young people are engaged in agricultural activities in rural areas. With innovation and strategic investments, the agriculture sector has a high potential to generate development opportunities and reduce rural exodus and inequality. The Initiative assists the Cabinet for Integrated Rural Development with recovery and resilience-building in the territories of Polochic and Adyacencia in the wake of past tropical depressions. The Initiative also supports the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food by providing territorial analysis to  design interventions in Polochic-Adyacencia. This is happening in parallel with the development of the typology of micro-regions, which guide strategic investments.

10. Guinea Bissau

11. Lao PDR

12. Malawi

13. Mali

In Mali, the Initiative supports the operationalization of two pilot Agricultural Growth Zonez or Agropoles. The establishment of Agropoles is promoted by the country's Economic Acceleration and Sustainable Development Strategy (CREDD II, 2019-2023). It is also supported by the National Agricultural Investment Plan to attract private investment and enhance competitiveness and access to markets. Agropoles would also improve the incomes of smallscale producers and businesses, and boost their acess to healthy diets.  

14. Nepal

Under the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, FAO and the World Bank supported the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to conduct a study on a climate-smart agriculture investment plan (CSAIP). The study identifies key opportunities for collaboration and investment in the agriculture sector. It also contributes to the World Bank’s agriculture engagement strategy and FAO’s Green Climate Fund projects. The HIH team is supporting the rollout of CSAIP-related plans at the local level in selected provinces. This will help mainstream the inclusive climate-resilient agrifood systems approach and identify locally important investment requirements from development partners and private companies.

15. Niger

16. Nigeria

17. Peru

18. Solomon Islands

Under HIH, FAO supports the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock with the 10-year Agriculture Sector Growth and Investment Plan (ASGIP) 2021-2030. The plan comprises four strategic programmes: governance, management, and innovation; national food and nutrition security; national livestock development programme; and national crop development. Based on the ASGIP, IFAD and FAO jointly designed the “Agricultural Investment for Markets and Nutrition Project” in 2021, which mobilised $15 million from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP). The project supports the HIH objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2. 

19. Sudan

The Hand-in-Hand Initiative supports the establishment of the Agriculture and Livestock Transformation Agency as a means to accelerate progress toward inclusive and sustainable agri-food systems development and rural transformation. To this end, the Initiative has provided analyses, training, and recruitment. A technical task force, comprising government officials and FAO staff, has identified the first set of priorities include livestock sector development, which also support extensions and vaccination programmes, value chain development for sorghum and groundnuts, seeds distribution, water management and irrigation, financial services, and clean energy generation.

20. Tajikistan

In Tajikistan, the Hand-in-Hand Initiative supports the development of a 10-year National Investment Plan for the agriculture sector. The Initiative specifically focuses on the dairy sector, which has been identified as one with the greatest potential to improve the incomes of the poorest communities and to generate opportunities for value-chain development. The HiH team has produced geospatial datasets related to Tajikistan’s food systems, including population, infrastructure, natural resources, production, and data processing. The World Bank and IFAD are financing two projects identified by the geospatial datasets.

21. Yemen

Yemen is in need of prioritizing the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. In May 2021, FAO, UNDP, WFP, and the World Bank mobilized $127 million to provide nutritious food products and restore livelihoods, which aligns with the goals of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative. The HIH team is working with the Government on drafting the National Agriculture and Fisheries Strategy (NAFS) and National Agriculture and Fisheries Investment Plan (NAFIP) in order to facilitate the development of a national strategy to improve food security. To raise money, they have finalized key financial models for investment in production and post-production technologies. Additionally, the World Bank has secured an additional financing of $150 million for the Yemen Food Security Response and Resilience Project.

22. Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s HiH Initiative builds on the Government’s agrifood systems transformation agenda, leveraging existing agricultural investment in the country. The Initiative strengthens the Government's effort with an advanced methodology that combines household-level data with GIS information to identify hot spots. With the Initiative’s support, Zimbabwe is focusing on developing inclusive value chains, enhancing agriculture financing and infrastructure, and reducing food loss and waste. The donor mapping, data assessment and typologies analysis are complete. With this, the Government has identified entry points. Extensive consultations have taken place at national and provincial levels.