ACDI/VOCA has joined with the H.J. Heinz Company and USAID to form the Alliance for Progress in Egyptian Horticulture, a public-private partnership designed to catalyze the potential for process tomato production and value-added horticulture in Egypt. This program, which will be implemented from March 1, 2008, until September 30, 2012, applies a market-driven value chain approach. It invests in the vast but largely unrealized potential of thousands of Upper Egypt's small farmers to meet modern-day market demands for product quality and quantity. ACDI/VOCA is strengthening horizontal and vertical linkages in the horticultural chain to achieve higher levels of productivity and quality by * transferring appropriate technologies and best practices to smallholders * encouraging information flows and partnerships to increase coordination along the horticulture value chain * facilitating development of commercial business service providers in production, post-harvest processing and marketing Learn more about ACDI/VOCA's programming in Egypt at http://www.acdivoca.org