Brad Reil, UH Manoa student (green shirt), and Aggrey Ntakimanye with the National Forestry Resources Research Institute (white shirt) discuss fruit fly larvae on a fallen mango with farmers in Uganda during a Trellis Fund project led by NaFORRI. 

Trellis Fund Fellowship Program (TFFP)

Connecting local organizations with student agricultural expertise

After 10 years of stewarding the Trellis Fund Fellowship Program (TFFP), the program is now being led by our partners at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), annually selecting graduate students from 1890 Land Grant and other Minority Serving Universities in the United States.

The program connects organizations in East and West Africa, South Asia and Central America with U.S.-based graduate students from partner institutions who have agricultural expertise, generating benefits for both the students and the in-country stakeholders. Together, they collaborate on short-term projects to address horticultural challenges faced by local farmers. 

The program is supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

For more on the 2024 Trellis Fellowship Program visit FAMU's webpage here.

Trellis Fund accomplishments

Since 2011, the Innovation Lab for Horticulture has awarded 76 projects to 60 organizations in 17 countries. These grants have supported:

  • 12,471 training participants (65% women)
  • 261 demonstration plots
  • 374 training and extension meetings

Most recent projects   Trellis Fund fact sheet   How to start a Trellis Fund

Trellis Fund blog posts

How to cook sweet potato leaves, with thanks from Ethiopia

Posted on
Did you know the leaves of the sweet potato plant are also a tasty, nutritious food? In Ethiopia, where sweet potatoes can be a staple crop, a UC Davis student recently helped farmers reconsider their sweet potato crop in a new culinary light. Watch this video...