Source: FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
US-HONDURAS PARTNERSHIPS TO STRENGTHEN FACULTY AND STUDENTS` GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1004447
Grant No.
2014-38821-22437
Project No.
GEOX-2014-03045
Proposal No.
2014-03045
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
EP
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2014
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2019
Grant Year
2014
Project Director
Kouakou, B.
Recipient Organization
FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
1005 STATE UNIVERSITY DRIVE
FORT VALLEY,GA 31030
Performing Department
Agricultural Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Agriculture production in Central and South America is important to US agriculture and sustainability. Despite an increasing globalization of US business and the apparent growing national interest in international education, limited number of students especially from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are engaged in overseas experiential learning and intercultural activities. To this end, Fort Valley State University (FVSU) and Alabama A&M University (AAMU) are developing collaborative partnerships with Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA) of Honduras to: 1) provide opportunities to develop students' and faculty global awareness, perspectives and experiential learning to enhance their competitiveness in an increasingly global economy and environment; 2) enhance courses with international contents to prepare and mentor students for international career opportunities; 3) enhance scientific research and teaching capabilities via exposures to international resources and technologies; 4) broaden our understanding of Central American rural realities and its agricultural production; 5) develop a summer enrichment international agriculture scholar exchange programs; 6) provide students opportunities to discover careers in international agriculture and business; and 7) use this and other overseas partnerships to foster critical thinking skills and build stronger pipelines for minority student recruitment into our programs. The project will provide funds for about 10 students and 4 faculty members from FVSU and AAMU agricultural sciences programs annually to spend 4 weeks at the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA) of Honduras. Annually, two students from UNA will come to FVSU to work on research project toward their BS degree. The project is also meant to enhance their global awareness in the understanding of NIFA's strategic goals in a global economy, natural resource management and conservation.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6016120302050%
6065010301025%
8035010301025%
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of the project is to strengthen the global competence of students and faculty in food and agricultural sciences, expand their global awareness in a Central American culture, and introduce them to new global vision through collaborative partnerships with Honduras Institutions. The specific objectives include:1) providing opportunities to develop students' and faculty global awareness, perspectives and experiential learning to enhance their competitiveness in an increasingly global economy and environment; 2) enhancing courses with international contents/contexts to prepare and mentor students for international career opportunities; 3) enhancing scientific research and teaching capabilities of FVSU and AAMU faculty via exposures to international resources and technologies; 4) broadening our understanding of Central American rural realities and its agricultural production; 5) developing a summer enrichment international agriculture scholar exchange programs; 6) providing students opportunities to discover careers in international agriculture and business; and (7) using this and other overseas partnerships to foster critical thinking skills and build stronger pipelines for minority student recruitment into our programs.
Project Methods
This project deals with internship for minority students at twoHBCUs (FVSU and AAMU) and research opportunity for Honduran students matriculating at UNA. Trips and tours of agricultural, scientific and cultural sites will be incorporated into the program. Participating faculty will be involved in seminars, as well as accompany students on tours and trips to facilitate intellectual capacity building in teaching and research.Students from FVSU and AAMU will participate in a foreign internship program in Spanish, food, agricultural and related sciences program. Students will develop journals on experiential learning activities which involve tours, cultural and other scholarly activities at research stations, governmental and non-governmental or private facilities and prepare reports and presentations after they return. Elective credit will be awarded to returning students. These reports will be combined into a document edited by the Extension/Ag Communication Department. The International Program Director (at UNA) will meet with US students to discuss progress report. This could provide tremendous educational perception and understanding in the economic trends of the international food and agriculture industry. UNA students at FVSU will be invited to participate in class discussions in courses taughtfrom the Spanish department. This will benefit the FVSU students not participating in the internship. It is expected that the impact on both academic faculty/student host and guests will provide data, documents and experiences that will be used to develop courses in international agriculture for the Ag sciences majors in addition to the internships.The returning students will be debriefed by the reporters of the Ag Communication Department without the presence of the PIs. The presentations of the students will be made during the monthly college seminars and attendants will be asked to grade the presentations. The debriefing document and the presentation scores will account for 60% of the evaluation score. The second evaluation criterion will be based on the number of applicants we receive relative to the number of internship available after the completion of the first group (25%). A large number of applicants will indicate the willingness of the student body to undertake the study abroad and their interest in getting similar experience. Another evaluation criterion will be based on progress toward the establishment of a course specific for study abroad which will allow students to take actual classes in foreign languages (10%) and the adherence to the established timetable (5%).

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:scientists, administrators, staffs Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Meeting with the faculty members and administrators of the different institutions visited openend avenues for the PD and co-PD to explore new sites for internship and study abroad in East and West Africa for students from FVSU and AAMU. Possibilities of writing grants with the scientists were also agreed upon. Draft memoranda for evaluation by our respective administrations were also drafted. Meetings are being conducted on FVSU campus with the provost and the dean to expand the study abroad idea with students paying portion of the cost. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Agricuktural Communications of FVSU has written a blog about the trip for the campus and Facebook. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the last year of the project. The termination report is being prepared for submission.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A trip was made from May 30 to June 15, 2019 to Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana by 4 faculty members and 1 technical/staff member to explore opportunities for future collaborations and sites for internship and study abroad for our students.. A visite was made to the University of .

Publications


    Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/19

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Students, Staffs, administrators Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Twenty five students from Fort Valley State University and Alabama A&M University traveled to Honduras for experiential learning. These activities included hands-on work at UNA's farm with the local students and instructors.These included high tunnel vegetable seedling transplants, fertilization, bees transfer, grafting of mangoes, citrus and goyavas, tasting and evaluating different coffee cultivars. Students learned habits and culture of minority communties ans some Spanish language enough to order food, ask for direction and maintain casual conversation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations by students to other students, to faculty and staffs. Blogs at FVSU made it to NIFA "Story of the week". What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is a termination/final report for the project. The PI and Co-PI at FVSU will start a faculty-lead study abroad in the summer of 2020 as part of the continuation plan. Two meetiings were held to evaluate students interest. Preparation of certificate program will be initiated in collaboration with other 1890 institutions within the Center of Excellence progrgam.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Five trips were taken during the life of the project. One exploratory trip by two faculty members in 2015 and three trips with students to Honduras. One trip was taken to Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana in 2019 to explore for new opportunities for internship and study abroad and establish linkage with MOU. These trip was made with three faculty members and one stahh/professional. One MOU was signed with UNA in Honduras.During the trips students and faculty members visited banana plantations, packing and shipping, aquaculture farms producing and processing Tilapia for export to USA, coffee production, processing and marketing by women cooperatives, pineapple plantations, shrimp production and processing, sugar cane plantation, apiculture and honey processing, cashew production and processing, grass-fed livestock and beef processing. The group visited small businesses under the supervision of Heiffer International group. The group also participated in Garifuna, Maya Chortis and Pech cultural activities and visited he Mayan Ruins. Students traveled with UNA students in 2017 and had overnight stay at host family (2015 and 2016) for cultural enrichment. Twenty five students traveled for the first time to Honduras. Four students from UNA (Honduras) traveled to Fort Valley State University to do their research to graduate with their BS degree at their home university. One student was recruited to the animal Science MS program. This students is currently working in New York city. One student from Honduras is pursuying a MS degree in Brazil. FVSu students presented their report to faculty and staff and received Cooperative Education/internship credit toward graduation.

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: US-Honduras Partnerships to strengthen Faculty and Students' Global Agricultural Research, Education and Cultural Experiences.1890 Institutions Teaching Research and Extension Capacity Building Grant (CBG) Program Project Director Meeting.International Collaboration Panel. National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Washington, DC, July 10-11, 2018


    Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18

    Outputs
    Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PD was able to make a prsentation at the PD meeting at NIFA in Washington, DC from July 10-11, 2018. In networking sessions, contcts were made with PD from another institution to collaborate to write a grant. The PD was able to learn what otherPD/colleagues were doing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students who did not have the opportunity to travel with us and learned about the program are still asking when the next program/study abroad will come along. They got the information through the university Agricultural Communication Blogs, comments from faculty and staffs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are requesting a final no-cost extension to pursue the trip to Costa Rica in Central America and possibly to Central Africa to still explore potential collaboration opportunities among our institutions, to broaden the international experiences of our students, who cannot do it on their own, to expose them to other socio-cultural events and to prepare them for positions requiring international credentials.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? A no-cost extension was granted to allow the investigators to establish new contacts to broaden the reach of the grant and open new avenues for the students and faculty. Contacts were made in Costa Rica with VERITASUniversidad to develop faculty-lead programs in tropical agriculture, to explore future study-abroad initiatives, opportunities for grants/internship and to familiarize with VERITAS research projects and other potential collaborations between our institutions. Invitations wereextended to the PI and Co-PIs for a trip from July 30 to August 5, 2018. Unfortunately, last minutes travel and programatic conflicts did not permit the trip.

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: US-Honduras Partnerships to strengthen Faculty and Students' Global Agricultural Research, Education and Cultural Experiences. 1890 Institutions Teaching Research and Extension Capacity Building Grant (CBG) Program Project Director Meeting. International Collaboration Panel. National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Washington, DC, July 10-11, 2018.


    Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Students, faculty and staff from US institutions and students form Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA), faculty, staff and citizens of Honduras. Changes/Problems:For the first two trips, the students were staying one night with a host (Afro-Honduran, Garifuna) family. We realized that this was too short a time. This year staying with students of their own age group and learning from each other made a big difference as seen in the evaluation form. The PI and the Co-PIs are looking into expanding the project to a new location with the remaining funds. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The innovative approach for this trip is that the students from UNA traveled with the US students and stayed at the same hotel. This practice provided the opportunity for the Honduran students to practice their English skills andfor the US students to learn more Spanish and more about the socio cultural practices in Honduras. By the secondweek of the trip, the US students were able to order their own food, ask for service and direction without the help of a translator. The US students were able to see the plants/trees,their fruits and some of the commodities found on the local grocery shelvesin their towns. They also learned the steps, care and regulationsit takes to qualify to export produces to the USA. AtUNA they learned how strict the discipline is in the boarding school where the students have to produce all they eat in the cafeteria. They did appreciate the true meaning of the UNA's slogan "Learn by Doing". How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The evaluations, the reports and the student presentations are available to the faculty and staffs and the students will be invited to attend the presentations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?An extension will be requested to use the remaining funds to explore and establish similar collaboration with other institutions in another country. This will help develop another proposal to expose our students to more experience and prepare them for the workforce needed by APHIS, FSIS, FAS and USDA in general.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? A trip was made to Honduras with nine students (7 from FVSU and 2 from Alabama A&M University) and two faculty members from Fort Valley State University (FVSU) from May 20 to June 9, 2017. From May 20th to June 1, 2017, the group traveled with one faculty member (our UNA collaborator), two staff members and six students from Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA) to visit sugar cane (Azucarera Tres Valles in Cantarranas), coffee ( in Danli, El Paraiso) and tobacco (Oscar Valladares & Tobacco) production. A visit was made to a cigar production factory, a wine production (El Buen Gusto Distillery), a tilapia and shrimp production farms in Choluteca).The group went to cashew production farm managed by a cooperative. In Comayagua, the group visited the Directorate of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (DICTA) a state research institution working in collaboration with Mission Taiwan to produce Aisian vegetable for export to the US market. In Siguatepeque, the group visited the Corral beef processing plant and a cooperative bee keeping operation. At the university from June 1 to June 8, the group visited small business projects/incubators supervised by Heifer International. Field work was done with UNA students in industrial crops (cocoa,mango, coffee, passion fruit, custor apple, bananas, goyavas), tilapia, dairy cow milking, tilapia harvesting and transferring. The group was invited to a cultural night with the election ofmiss Environmental and Nautural Resources and also met with the Afro-Honduran Garifuna students. The group visited the US embassy in Tegucigalpa and was brieved bythe Agricultural and trade group and the USDA representative. The last night was dedicated to the evaluation of the program and the award of certificates to participants.

    Publications


      Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

      Outputs
      Target Audience:Students, faculty and stafffrom US universities and students, faculty, staff and citizens of Honduras. Changes/Problems:The 2016interns had easier time receiving their stipends at FVSU due to an early and a wider consultation with people involved in the process. After the 2017 trip, opportunity will be explored to broaden the scope of the project if some moneys are left. The PI and Co-Pi will look into expanding the project to a new location to widen the experiences of the students, look for new opportunities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two students from UNA were selected to do their internship at FVSU from August to September 2016. Students and faculty from the USA had the opportunity to do field work (hand fertilization of pastures). The group also learnedsome aspects of the Afro-Honduran and Maya Chorti cultures. Most of the students saw some tropical plants and tastedsome fruits for the first time and learned about processes and regulations involved in export to the USA. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students will make presentations to their peers and faculty and staffs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Another group of students will travel with faculty to Honduras in May to June 2017.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? A trip was made to Honduraswith 8 undergraduate students and 2 faculty members from Fort Valley State University (FVSU) and 2 students from Alabama A&M University (AA&MU) from May 25 to June 14, 2016. At the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA), students and faculty participated with UNA faculty and students infield work modules dealing with pastures and forages gardens, fertilization of pastures, cattle farming, tilapia production, agroecology farm and tree nursery. Around the university, the group visited the "Cross" and the Talgua Caves, varous Heifer International projects (Fresa yChocolate Bakery, Ebanisteria Zuniga, Dairy Plan PRODEPA, Rosquilleria Cata and Coffee Cooperative COCAOL). The group traveled to Port Castillo in Trijillo to see banana exports, to Roatan for a cultural night with Afro-Honduran English Speaking population andto La Ceiba to visit Dole pineapple production. The group visited Leyde to see dairy and juice production and traveled to Cuero y Salada a wildlife refuge. A Garifuna Cultural and Family Homestay in Ensenada was organized for the group before moving to Copan. In Copan, the group visited the Copa School and Family Gardens with indigenous Maya-Chorti population and the Copan Ruins.During the last day of the trip, Certificates of Participation signed by the Rector and the International Program Coordinator was given to the participants.

      Publications


        Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15

        Outputs
        Target Audience:Undergraduate students, facultyand administrators from Fort Valley State University (FVSU) in Georgia and Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNA) in Honduras. The audience also was officialsof agribusinesses (Dole Bananas, COAPALMA, Dairy San Pedro, Aquafinca), small businesses and Non-governmentalorganization (NGO) in Honduras. Met leaders and people of underservedminority communities (Garifuna, Pech) in Honduras. Changes/Problems:Interns at FVSU from Honduras could not officially get access to library resources because of lack of student ID. Their stipend for the internship was paid late. A wider and early consultation with the administarion will clear this problem for the next group of interns. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduates students from UNA did a three month internship at FVSU. One worked on the effects of three modified atmosphere packaging on the color of loin chops from goat meat. The other studentworked on the effect of rosemary extract on the color of loin chop from goat meat. One student who graduated with a BSfrom UNA is pursuing an MS degree at FVSU. Students from FVSU were trained at UNA in grafting tropical fruit trees, individual hand fertilization of vegetable crops andprocess in bee hive keeping. FVSU students also produced draftcommercials for local very small businesses they visited. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students from FVSU who participated in the internship made a presentation for the students, staff and faculty members of the College of Agriculture, Family Sciences and Technology. A news bulletin is being published bythe Department ofAg Communication for the whole campus. The local TV station in Catacamas, Honduras interviewed two of FVSU students during the visit for the Honduran people and students at UNA. The FVSU group was invited by the Garifuna community in Iriona to a cultural event (Community Center opening). The Mayor of Iriona extended an invitation to the group for the next visit to organize a special FVSU day in the city. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Another group of students will be selected. This group will have at least eight students. Announcement for the trip will be published early in the spring semester to reach a wider audience. Recruitment of UNA students will also start early. The returning interns will be interviewed by Ag Communication toget their feedback and ideas on how to improve the program.

        Impacts
        What was accomplished under these goals? An MOU was signed between FVSU and UNA by the FVSU president and UNA rector. A preliminary trip was taken to Catacamas (Honduras) by the PI and one Co-PIin May to meet the contact person (director of international program),plan andselect the sitesfor student visits. A subsequent trip was made with 5 students and two faculty members for three weeks. During the trip, sociocultural immersions were done with the Garifuna and Pech communities (underserved minorities). Students and faculty were exposed to realities in developing countries. Students learned cultural practices of tropical agriculture production with minimal involvement of heavy machineries. Students learned the steps and processesinvolved in preparing agricultural products for export to the US markets. Two undergraduatestudents in the Food Technology BS program at UNA were recruited for a three month internship at FVSU. One student with a BS degree from UNA was also encouraged to apply for the MS program at FVSU. This student is currently enrolled at FVSU. News release/stories have been written by the FVSU AG Communication department about the grant and the presentations of the FVSU students who participated in the internship in Honduras.

        Publications

        • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between FVSU and UNA signed by FVSU president and UNA Rector.