American volunteer awarded Bush Prize for activity in Moldova

The U.S. ambassador to Moldova, Heather M. Hodges, has handed in the prize of the U.S. president for volunteer service to a resident of the city of Manitowoc, the Wisconsin state, for activity in Moldova within the Farmer-to-Farmer Program. According to a communication of the U.S. Embassy to Moldova, Norval Dvorak, an 84-year-old retired farmer, has founded a number of cooperatives in the American state of Wisconsin and he is a known and respected specialist in Moldova. He has spent the past three years to organise and develop cooperatives in Moldovan villages. His recent project implemented in the Moldovan village of Dusmani last March focussed on transformation of a cooperative farm into a competitive and profitable business. „Knowing the difficulties faced by cooperative members while selling the agricultural products, Norval has recommended them to create an American-style cattle breeding farm. This solution should create a sale market for grains of cooperative members and serve as an instructive example for farmers, changing their vision about business and farm management practices, enhancing the quality and improving the marketing technologies,” the embassy said. Thus, after returning to his native city of Manitowoc, Dvorak along with other colleagues have worked out a project on acquisition of 30 calves, reconstruction of a farm for cattle and fodder for them and he collected 10,000 dollars and used them to purchase calves and fodder for them. Norval and the Farmer-to-Farmer Program have helped 71 members and workers of the Tersimeda cooperative to increase their revenues in 2005. Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA), an organisation that facilitated the activity of Norval Dvorak in Moldova, has deployed about 700 volunteer specialists to the New Independent States like Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as another five countries in Africa, starting 1993. CNFA trains private farmers and groups of farmers in agriculture and facilitates their transition to market economy. According to the embassy, U.S. President George W. Bush inaugurated the Bush Prize in 2003 and it is awarded to those who demonstrated an extraordinary volunteer service and civil participation within 12 months. The U.S. government finances the Farmer-to-Farmer Program through USAID.