How can ECHO help you in your work with small-scale farmers or urban gardeners?

ECHO specializes in strengthening the work of people such as you who are already working in the developing countries, rather than sending out our own staff. Most of our services are free to qualified individuals. We have found that a key piece of information or new kind of seed can often greatly expand what you are able to do without the need for an expanded budget!

INFORMATION

At the center of our work is ECHO DEVELOPMENT NOTES (EDN), which we send to thousands of people in over 160 countries. In EDN we share the most helpful, practical information that we come across about growing food under difficult circumstances. To be eligible to receive EDN free of charge you must demonstrate that you work with an organization that is actively sharing agricultural ideas with small farmers.  It is published in English, Spanish and French.

SEEDS

Our seed bank offers seeds of "underexploited" crops, many recommended by the National Academy of Sciences for tropical conditions, and others discovered in the course of our own work.  We are pleased to be able to send sample seed packets to you as an overseas development worker so you can try them in your area. We supply experimental packets for evaluation purposes, rather than larger quantities for routine production, with the hope that seeds of promising species would be saved for further observation.  Please visit the Seed Bank page for further information.

PROBLEM SOLVING: We try to answer your questions.

Several staff members, called the “Technical Response Unit,” spend a considerable amount of time researching replies to problems or questions from our network. Staff and people studying at ECHO make heavy use of our specialized library, which contains thousands of books and other publications including many that are out-of-print or hard to find.

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