FFD, the Finnish Agri-Agency for Food and Forest Development, is a non-profit organisation supporting agricultural producer organisations, forest owners’ organisations and cooperatives in developing countries. FFD was formed in 2012 by four Finnish farmers’ and forest producers’ organizations in 2012 to coordinate Finnish farmer-to-farmer development cooperation efforts.
The twinning approach is at the core of FFD’s work. 13 agriculture and forestry experts from Finland provide peer support, advice and knowledge-sharing to farmers and forest producers in developing countries.
FFD is a part of AgriCord, a non-profit international development alliance bringing together 12 agri-agencies, each mandated by the farmers’ and rural people’s organizations of their respective countries. All AgriCord members implement the Farmers Fighting Poverty programme, aiming to reduce poverty through the empowerment of producer organisations. In addition to contributions from members and private donations, FFD’s work is made possible by support by Finnish, Dutch, Belgian, French and the European Union development funding. European Union’s funding is implemented with technical support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
FFD projects have supported a variety of rural livelihoods in various developing countries, including agriculture, silviculture, agroforestry, aquaculture and apiculture. Results are achieved in practice through measures such as training support, organizational strengthening, improving value chain and market connections. Around half of FFD’s projects support forest-based livelihood systems, and support for gender and vulnerable groups is a priority for FFD’s projects.