Notice of Funding Opportunity: Food for Progress Program

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is soliciting applications for the Food for Progress (FFPr) Program for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.

Applications for cooperative agreements will be prioritized for the following countries: Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Lesotho, Mauritania, Nepal, The Gambia, and Togo. FAS will also review submissions for non-prioritized countries. To fulfill its mandate under the Food for Progress Act of 1985, FAS will enter into cooperative agreements with eligible organizations, referred to as recipients, to implement field-based projects that aim to improve agricultural production and expand trade of agricultural products in developing countries. Programs are primarily funded through the sale of donated commodities within the foreign market where the program is implemented.

The Food for Progress (FFPr) Program provides for the donation of U.S. agricultural commodities to developing countries and emerging democracies committed to introducing and expanding free enterprise in the agricultural sector. The commodities are generally sold on the local market and the proceeds are used to support agricultural development activities.

Objectives

Food for Progress has two high-level strategic objectives:

• increase agricultural productivity and

• expand trade of agricultural products (domestically, regionally, and internationally).

Priorities

In FY 2023, USDA has prioritized the following technical areas for the FFPr Program:

• Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA): USDA seeks to strengthen FFPr Program projects to align with the USDA Climate initiatives. FAS is requiring Applicants for awards under the FFPr Program to incorporate climate smart agricultural components into all their projects wherever appropriate and respond to the increasing risks which climate change presents both to farmers and to a livable global environment.

• Trade Enabling Environment (TEE): USDA seeks to continue its work through the FFPr Program in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), food safety, and trade facilitation including the simplification modernization, and harmonization of processes for the export, import, and transit of agricultural goods. To ensure long lasting impact of their proposed agricultural development interventions, Applicants should:

  • consider agricultural sectors with end market opportunities which require consistent safety and quality measures, and

  • seek to assure that their work in SPS and Trade Facilitation is science-based and contributes to the three pillars of food security in target countries (access to, affordability of, and utilization of safe and nutritious food).

• Strengthening Food Security: USDA contributes to the global poverty and hunger initiative of the U.S. Government (USG) by aligning USDA’s international food assistance with the USG’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative. The Global Food Security Act of 2016 and corresponding FTF initiative affirm the United States’ commitment to ending global hunger, poverty, and child malnutrition. Through the FFPr Program, USDA will continue its work in food security by assisting farmers to increase their income through diversification, stronger market linkages and adoption of good agriculture practices. Applicants are encouraged to align proposed interventions with the objectives found in the FTF results framework, where appropriate, and are required to ensure that proposed activities are complementary and not duplicative.

Funding Information

• Available funding for the NOFO: Up to $226,000,000 (total) in FY 2023, Subject to the availability of funding

• Total award funding: Up to $226,000,000

• Estimated number of awards: 7

• Estimated funding per award: $20,000,000 - $39,000,000