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Sunday, September 27, 2009

CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE AND NEW HORIZONS

For the last three years FoodWorks has been focused on South Asia, principally Pakistan, although Eddie Vernon has been working in Afghanistan and Bob Lindley has been in the Pacific. However, now the time has come to change perspective somewhat and look at opportunities throughout the region. This does not mean we have finished with Pakistan - the problems in agriculture remain enormous - but that the donor community has put agriculture on hold for a while. The Asian Development Bank has re-focused on infrastructure while USAID is pondering about whether to move ahead with the the $400 million planned investment (that we helped design) in staple crops and livestock/dairy. Hopefully by Christmas some decisions will have been taken and things might move ahead. We'll be happy to participate if the do. Meanwhile, we are looking at Nepal (crop diversification), Bosnia (capacity building) and Cambodia (private sector investment in rice).

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