History

EUCORD was created in 2003 with the intention to become Winrock International’s European affiliate. Winrock International is a US based NGO with roots in the Rockefeller family’s philanthropic mission of rural and agricultural development. By developing EUCORD as a Brussels based affiliate, Winrock would be able to more easily partner with European development agencies while strengthening the network with European based agribusinesses. While still an affiliate of Winrock, EUCORD is today an autonomous non-profit organization registered as a co-operative in the Netherlands.

EUCORD started its operations in Mali where it took over the management of a number of project activities that were initiated by Winrock International, including a program to develop four community savings and credit banks supported by the Rabobank Foundation. In July 2003 Winrock handed over the management of this project to EUCORD. The four community banks continue to do well, while each bank has a vibrant inventory credit program. The success of the program has allowed the banks to provide credit and savings  services in 67 villages. Loans provided by the Rabobank Foundation to the four banks were refunded within 5 years (including an 8% interest).

Between 2003 and 2005, EUCORD managed the Smallholder Initiative in West Africa (SIWA) project funded by the Monsanto Fund. Under this project new and more productive maize hybrid varieties were demonstrated to farming communities in Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso. In 2005, EUCORD completed a horticultural sector supply chain study in Mali assessing the feasibility to export green beans to Europe (funded by the Dutch government). In 2006, EUCORD completed a Master Plan for the cassava sector in Nigeria (UNIDO funded) and a smallholder tea production project for Unilever/Lipton in Indonesia. In 2007 EUCORD/Mali received the Doreen Mashler Award from ICRISAT for its outstanding contribution to the promotion of the fertilizer micro-dosing technology and warrantage (inventory credit) system in West Africa.

Presently, EUCORD is implementing five year sorghum and potato value chain development programs in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea and Senegal funded by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC). EUCORD also implements Dutch government funded smallholder rice and sorghum projects in DR Congo and Burundi as well as a USAID funded project for vulnerable rural families in Nigeria. In Mali, EUCORD is implementing two projects funded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The first project aims to increase the production of millet, sorghum and cowpea through the wide scale dissemination and adoption of the fertilizer micro-dosing and inventory credit. The second project, which is co-funded by CFC, aims to transform subsistence farmers to market oriented entrepreneurs through the introduction of hybrid sorghum varieties and by facilitating linkages to wholesalers and processors.