One of the biggest challenges facing sub-Saharan African nations is how to help farmers withstand climate and economic headwinds and produce food for a growing population.

The U.S. Agency for International Development last year granted about $33 billion for projects across the world.

But critics say its results have fallen well short,

with most aid dollars going to U.S.-based companies

with little involvement by locally led groups closest to the problem.

In his final report examining foreign aid,

Fred de Sam Lazaro looks at two such food startups

in the West African nation of Ghana.

It's part of his series, Agents for Change.

It's still early in the growing season, but Faith Mauuco is guardedly optimistic about this

season's yield from her 1,000 mango trees.

You expect a bumper harvest this year?

Yes, I do. What could make that not happen?

The weather, the climate.

Like most Ghanaian farmers, she's at the mercy of the market and increasingly unpredictable

weather.

Farmers here depend on rain.

Few have irrigation systems.

The climate also plays a major role during the fruits in the flowering.

If you are not able to get enough rain, we get a lot of the fruits getting aborted.

That's what happened last year to mango farmers in Latin America,

where widespread flooding reduced production by up to 80%.

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