1. IFAD contribution for case study boxes for section IV B of the GSF
Promoting investment through integrated area-based approaches
The IFAD co-financed Area-based Agricultural Modernization Programme in southwestern Uganda has combined activities to improve rural and agricultural
infrastructure with others to facilitate farmers’ access to services, organization of
producers, and private sector engagement in the commercialization of
smallholder agriculture. The programme was nested within a national Plan for the
Modernization of Agriculture and benefitted from a supportive government
attitude towards the role of the private sector in agriculture. It was designed to
address some key underlying factors of poverty among smallholders in the area,
namely poor or no linkages to markets, scant access to financial services and
capital to support enterprise development, and poor access to technology to
boost productivity.
At project closure, positive impact on smallholders’ investment capacity could be
inferred from the significant increase in local yields and in the share of local
farmers who marketed their produce (from 40 to 60%). Also recorded was
increased participation of private sector entrepreneurs in various sections of the
value chains in which smallholders operate – as seed, fertilizer, and pesticide
suppliers, as traders, and as urban retailers. Increased participation of
agricultural processors in these chains also led to their investment in new
facilities (e.g. for rice milling, dairy processing, etc.), prompted by, but in turn
also incentivizing, increased productivity and farmers’ interest in investing in
production for the market. Strengthening the social capital of farmers has been
important to encourage and direct them to invest for greater productivity and
commercialization, leading to increased allocation of land to production for the
market and adoption of improved technologies. Organization facilitated access to
financial services, training, and marketing. Donor co-financed infrastructure
(feeder and community roads, post harvest handling structures, and covered
markets) played a critical complementary role to new private sector facilities, by
facilitating and reducing costs and risks attached to commercialization – both for
smallholder farmers and for other market actors. The economic and financial
rates of return of project investments were positive, thanks to increased yields
and market opportunities for farmers. Positive impact was recorded on both the
income of the vast majority of the 400,000 participating households and on their
capital asset base – e.g. as concerns household ownership of livestock, large
improvements were recorded, supporting households to generate additional
income that was partly used to reinvest in agriculture. Financial assets also grew
substantially through project-supported savings and credit cooperatives. (From:
IOE (2012) Republic of Uganda, Area-Based Agricultural Modernization
Programme, Project Performance Assessment)
-------------------------------------------------------------------Boosting farmers' and rural people's entrepreneurial capacity
A key area where targeted public expenditures are often needed to boost
successful smallholder investment is in developing the entrepreneurial capacity of
farmers, so they can make appropriate investment choices given market
opportunities and risks. Donor-financed programmes can facilitate or support
public initiatives to this effect in a variety of ways, each of which has specific
policy preconditions. In all cases, the importance of operating in a policy
environment with clear commitment to boosting the role of the private sector in
agriculture is critical.
In the case of the IFAD co-financed Rural Enterprises Project, phase II, in Ghana,
national policy frameworks for the modernization of agriculture and for promoting
private sector participation in processing and marketing have evolved gradually
during the life of the project, particularly after the mid-2000s. However, at the
end of the decade the business environment in rural Ghana remained
problematic, due to limited infrastructure (roads, water, electricity,
telecommunications), poor access to rural finance, and high input costs. Weak
collective power and organization of farmers was also a constraint. Rural micro
and small enterprises linked to agriculture suffered from poor access to financial
services, markets, and information, and from low technology and skills levels. All
these in turn hindered or reduced incentives to small entrepreneurs to invest in
improving their ability to deliver good quality services and products to the
market. The project channeled public investment towards a range of services –
notably rural financial services, business development services, and training and
technology promotion - to develop a competitive micro and small enterprise
sector in rural areas, including a range of activities ancillary to agriculture. The
project appears to have exemplary impact on institutions at the national and
district levels. It has led to significant policy change in support of the micro and
small enterprise (MSE) sector, and has facilitated the implementation of new
policy initiatives (e.g. the establishment of a MSE subcommittee). At the district
level, it has created an enabling environment and an innovative institution for
local MSE growth. It has also contributed to strengthening local institutions.
(From Interim Evaluation of Rural Enterprises Project, Phase II, Ghana, October
2011)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Developing local service markets and institutions for investment in rural
development
Developing local services for natural resource management, entrepreneurship,
and technical assistance is an important part of creating an environment
conducive to greater smallholder investment in agriculture and ancillary activities.
There are many approaches to developing these services, with different
modalities of involvement of the public and private sectors. Each has pluses and
minuses in terms of impact, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability. In recent
years, promising innovative approaches have included combining public
investments and enabling policies to create local demand and markets for
services that can orient investment to foster local development.
In the Peruvian Sierra, for instance, donor-supported public funding has been
used to foster both demand and supply of technical and entrepreneurial services
at the municipality level, particularly through the IFAD-supported institutional
innovation of the concurso. This is an open and transparently managed
competition for public financing among community or group-based projects
focused on natural resource management or entrepreneurial activities. It is
managed by local resource allocation committees made of community members
and local government representatives, bridging formal and informal leadership
institutions. In the so-called “Pacha Mama Raymi” competitions, farming
households compete within or across communities for financial awards for best
practices and methodologies in agriculture. In other types of concursos,
entrepreneurial group projects compete for public co-financing for technical
assistance. Combined with facilitated access to financial services and enhanced
market linkages, the concurso approach, which empowers communities – most of
them agricultural producers – to manage public resources to invest in their asset
base, has obtained significant results on rural poverty, prompting scaling up
efforts involving government and other donors. It has also strengthened demand
for private sector services, which are contracted by communities or groups with
co-financing through public funds via the concursos.
Beneficiary investment has been leveraged successfully through this approach –
for instance, in the Corredor Puno Cusco project, each dollar of project
investment has been leveraged five times by beneficiaries (in other words, one
dollar of public investment mobilizes five dollars of private investment). Pacha
Mama Raymi competitions have also proved effective in stimulating farmers’
investment prior to competing, facilitating access to additional resources to invest
in social and economic assets at household and community level, and fostering
innovation and scaling up of successful methodologies for productivity increase
(with results in the order of 2-3 times production increase in participating farms).
Quite importantly, concurso-related approaches to management of public
resources for development and natural resource management have been
gradually scaled up and integrated into formal governance institutions in the
Peruvian Sierra in the past few years.
An interim evaluation of the Puno Cusco project conducted in 2006 found the
project highly relevant to an environment where poor supply and access to
technical assistance service markets was a critical obstacle to increasing farmers'
productivity and incomes. Also very important for success and scaling up was the
relevance of project approaches to a policy and institutional environment evolving
in the direction of decentralization of public resource management for
development. Local and beneficiary ownership of the approach was an important
precondition for increased productivity both in agriculture (notably livestock
production) and in other activities. This resulted in turn into income increases
among technical assistance recipients of over 20 percent, with surpluses invested
in large part in production-related assets (including livestock). Increasing human
and social capital associated with the process were also important factors boding
well for the economic success of investments. From: Peru – Institutional Scaling
up Review, Working paper 2. Scaling up institutional approaches: A case study on
IFAD operations in Peru (Barbara Massler, Draft February 2010), Interim
Evaluation of Republic of Peru: Development of the Puno-Cusco Corridor Project
(2006), and Completion Report of Corredor Development Project, Peru (2008)
[Proyecto de Desarrollo Corredor Puno-Cusco, Informe Final, Diciembre del 2008]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Rural finance and smallholder-inclusive value chains
In recent years, value chain financing has been drawing interest for its potential
to facilitate farmers’ investment in increasing their productivity, as well as their
ability to be competitive actors in markets where demand and product standards
are both growing, and institutional arrangements and stakeholders changing
rapidly. Public and donor support to value chain financing can take a variety of
forms – as do value chain financing arrangements. Many of these are not new –
transactions among market actors have actually been important sources of
finance to farmers across the world before the development of modern value
chains proper. As supply chain institutions and modalities of engagement among
stakeholders evolve, however – as is also the case today across the world – much
room for innovation is also opening up, which donors can tap and support.
In an ongoing programme jointly financed by IFAD, AfDB, and the government of
Ghana, for instance, an innovative value chain financing model has been
introduced based on “cashless” credit transactions. This approach involves
running farmers’ financial transactions with input dealers, service providers, and
marketing companies directly through banks. More specifically, under this
approach government staff, representatives from participating banks, and
extension agents – among others – jointly screen credit applications from farmers
groups, and a financial institution conducts loan request appraisals. Farmer
groups, along with the other stakeholders involved in screening loan applications,
identify and agree on a choice of service and input providers, and commission
services and input delivery for land preparation and input supply. The banks pay
directly for such services, debiting the accounts of farmer groups. Marketing
companies are also identified to purchase the farmers’ products, paying the
farmers groups directly through the banks, which deduct credit principal and
interest from these payments. As of end of 2011, the programme had achieved
significant success in mobilizing private equity for agricultural from formal
financial institutions. Through the credit cashless credit scheme, it had managed
to leverage about one million Cedis for crop and shea production. Providing
incentives for the engagement of private companies that can provide markets,
contract farming, or employment opportunities to small farmers is a
complementary aspect of the programme, along with the development of rural
infrastructure (feeder and truck roads, dams, etc.) and the diversification of
services offered by local financial institutions to include micro-leasing, credit with
education, and other. Again, the approach taken is to ensure that access to
finance has an enabling role for investment and income growth in a broader
context of strengthening incentives for investment and reducing risks by
improving value chain linkages and securing farmers’ links to markets.
While still ongoing, the early results of the Northern Rural Growth Programme
(NRGP) highlight on the one hand the potential of value chain financing to
facilitate investment in agriculture, and on the other hand the many challenges
that exist especially where value chains and markets function poorly, or where
rural banks are under-capitalized and have limited savings mobilization capacity.
They also highlight the need to mitigate the risks confronting formal financial
institutions when supporting investment in agriculture, working in parallel to
support the development and better functioning of value chains with good
potential to deliver benefits to all stakeholders (including farmers), and building
the capacity of financial institutions – especially rural and community-based
banks and the like – to understand and manage value chain approaches and to
develop appropriate products. (sources: IFAD Project design, implementation,
and supervision reports of the MOFA/IFAD/AfDB Northern Rural Growth
Programme, dated from April 2010 to December 2011)
A different, promising approach to supporting the development of value chains
through strengthened financial services has been taken by IFAD in Moldova. Of
particular relevance with respect to financial services driving value chain
development are two recent projects focused on facilitating access to mediumterm investment capital for small rural entrepreneurs in horticulture and other
agricultural value chains. Access to such capital is of critical importance for small
entrepreneurs in agriculture to develop commercially viable initiatives, requiring
financial products with appropriate maturity terms and conditions. The latter are,
as noted, often in short supply among the products offered by commercial banks,
just as they are among MFIs and informal financial institutions accessible to poor
rural people. It is also of critical importance for the development of agricultural
value chain segments with linkages to farmers, which can create incentives for
their increased investment in producing for the market.
In the case of Moldova, for instance, inadequate access to financial services is
widely considered as a critical obstacle to the development of agricultural and
agro-processing enterprises, particularly for small entrepreneurs and farmers who
cannot meet the collateral requirements of commercial banks. Despite a highly
liquid banking system, Moldovan commercial banks find little incentives and high
risks in investing in rural areas and in agriculture, and the shallowness of capital
markets is more generally a problem vis-à-vis the development of medium or
long-term investment products in the banking sector. In this context, IFAD (as
well as World Bank) have sought to respond to high demand for medium-term
credit by small rural entrepreneurs by developing dedicated credit lines with
participating banks. According to a scaling up assessment of the IFAD Moldova
portfolio, available indicators suggest that loans have been supporting successful
investments, leading to good financial returns for participating farmers and
agroprocessors as well as to employment generation and wage increases.
Investment from IFAD-supported credit lines went into activities and/or assets
including livestock, grain processing, vineyards, vegetable greenhouses, milk
processing, and other. For instance, at the completion of the Rural Business
Development Programme, the refinancing of 129 investment loans was found to
have created 1 348 new jobs (3.62% of all new jobs created in the country during
the programme), at an average monthly wage for each job of USD 208,
compared to average wages in agriculture of USD 119/month as of 2008.
Benefiting agro-processing and agro-marketing enterprises were estimated to
have created incremental market opportunities for about 4593 smallholders,
thanks to their increases demand of raw materials sources from farmers worth
around USD 33.444 million annually. Benefitting commercial farmers were able
to increase their land asset base through renting 5 350 ha from 3 565
smallholders (many of them retirees), increasing their own average annual
income. Among the 4593 farmers whose market opportunities increased thanks
to new demand from agro-enterprises, an estimated 20% were incentivized to
invest in new/rehabilitation of orchards, tunnels, and trellis for vegetables, drip
irrigation systems and machinery. The result was an estimated growth in assets
equivalent to USD 2 850 per farmer.
Important backward linkage effects were found in the Moldova rural finance
portfolio of IFAD from investments in agroprocessing in terms of access to
markets and income increases for small farmers. Critical to success were, among
other, the potential competitiveness of the Moldovan high-value added
agricultural sector (particularly in horticulture and other selected value chains),
the need to restore the agro-processing sector to tap this competitiveness, and
large unmet demand for medium-term credit on facilitated terms. Despite such
favourable market conditions, however, ensuring that medium term investment
lending for agriculture and agro-processing becomes a mainstream service
offered by the Moldovan banking system, allowing scaling up of this approach and
scaling down of donor involvement, has been a challenge. Indeed, on the one
hand the sustainability of this approach has been pursued and is to a significant
extent secured by the focus of investment in value chain activities with a clear
market, the private sector ownership of newly generated assets, and the creation
of a revolving fund for investment lending. On the other hand, broader
sustainability and scaling up of the approach would also require banking system
reforms, so as to address the shallowness of capital markets and develop
structural incentives for medium- and long-term lending to agriculture in the
commercial banking system.
(From Arntraud Hartmann, “Scaling up IFAD
Interventions in Moldova”, January 27, 2012; Republic of Moldova, Rural Business
Development Programme, Project Completion Report, DRAFT August 2010)
A similar environment in terms of low interest and high risk aversion of
commercial banks with respect to financing agriculture and agri-businesses has
been found by IFAD in Armenia. Also similarly to the case of Moldova, in Armenia
this coexists with large untapped potential for agriculture-based growth, with a
largely smallholder-based agriculture sector employing a significant part of the
population but generating little economic value due to low productivity, and
significant demand in agro-food value chains – both national and in export
markets. In this case, one joint response by IFAD and Government has been to
establish a highly innovative rural venture capital fund (the Fund for Rural
Economic Development in Armenia – FREDA) under the Farmer Market Access
Programme. Formally set up in 2009 under terms that enable access to IFAD loan
funds for 5.2 million USD, FREDA offers equity and quasi-equity financing and
management support to small and medium agro-enterprises, with a focus on
companies with strong linkages to smallholder agriculture, hence potential to help
boost rural employment and income growth. FREDA has a mission of contributing
to rural poverty reduction through provision of equity and subordinated loans to
rural companies to expand their activities, focused technical support services to
enhance company performance and developmental impact, facilitating linkages
between companies and other finance providers, and prioritizing work with
strategically placed companies. There is particular focus on maximizing value
chain impact and positive impact on rural poor people’s wellbeing, notably by
carefully assessing investments on the basis of projected value chain impact
through a Value Chain Multiplier Index.
As of November 2011, the investment portfolio of FREDA focused on seven rural
SMEs in the areas of fish farming, poultry production, fruit storage, wine
processing, dairy processing and cannery. About 40% of FREDA investment had
been used for working capital, and 60% for fixed assets. Impact data from the
first year of operation of FREDA focused on three client companies, and it showed
significant increases in sales (by about 40% total), export value (+ 235%), and
net profits. Procurement by farmers and rural suppliers grew in terms of produce
value by more than four times in the space of a year, and so did the number of
suppliers and employers. Positive impact was also achieved on the national
poultry sector thanks to the increased pedigree breeding capacity of one of the
companies supported by FREDA. Similar impact appears to be emerging among
more recently supported enterprises, resulting also in better prices paid by
processors to smallholder producers – in turn facilitating and incentivizing the
latter’s ability to invest for greater and better quality production. (From: J.
Ruotsi and T. Khanikyan, ‘Equity funds and development: The case of FREDA in
Armenia”, Republic of Armenia, International Fund for Agricultural Development,
Fund for Economic Development in Armenia, unpublished paper, 2012)
2. IFAD contribution for case study boxes for section IV D of the GSF,
from the IFAD Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
(2012)
Improving women’s access to finance in Yemen. One of the underlying
objectives of the Dhamar Participatory Rural Development Project, DPRDP (20042012) is to mobilize local community members, in particular women and young
people, to take part in planning and implementing project activities. The majority
of women in Dhamar are illiterate, their participation in social and civic affairs is
restricted, and they have limited ownership of land or property. One of the
project’s greatest successes has been teaching young and adult women to read
and write, and enabling them to manage their money. More than 6,500 women
have completed elementary literacy training and nearly 3,000 have started their
second year. Building on this achievement, 140 savings and credit groups have
been set up, the vast majority of which are women’s groups created by women
from the literacy classes. Young women have acquired important new skills,
enabling them to increase their incomes, strengthen their livelihood security and
resilience to food insecurity, earn the respect of their neighbours and take up
positions of responsibility in their communities. The women’s savings and credit
group model has been replicated in other Governorates and the
Household mentoring in Uganda. The District Livelihoods Support Programme,
DLSP (2007-2014) has adopted an innovative extension methodology to work
with poorer households. Under the household mentoring approach, adult
members of a household meet together with a trained mentor, selected from the
local community. During these visits, men and women in a household are assisted
in planning their livelihoods, working together to improve their food security and
income, and to share in the benefits equally. This methodology has proved to
generate profound impacts at the household level, not only in terms of food
security and increased incomes, but also in terms of gender equality and
HIV/AIDS mainstreaming. The distinctiveness of this approach is that it brings
about changes in gender relations “from within”, rather than being imposed “from
outside”.
Gender-sensitive value chain development in Guatemala. The IFADsupported Rural Development Programme for Las Verapaces (2001 – 2011)
promoted value chain enhancement for a variety of crops (vegetables, spices,
coffee and cocoa) through the implementation of a leading-edge and wellmanaged gender strategy. It financed investments to enhance the value of farm
products, including the facilitation of meetings and negotiations between
smallholders and buyers at various levels of the value chain, building capacity for
grading and sorting, and providing branding and marketing support (e.g. coffee
“cupping” competitions). The approach was gender-sensitive, ensuring that
discussions within farmers’ associations involved women alongside men, and that
work and resources were fairly distributed among them. The programme offered
other specific services to women, including literacy and training on accounting,
group management and technical skills. It assisted women in obtaining identity
documents, which are a prerequisite for accessing government services, opening
bank accounts, and benefiting from other commercial services such as mobile
telephone use. When women gathered for training or literacy, they were also
provided with reproductive health information and services.
The employment of a qualified full-time gender adviser contributed significantly to
this success in promoting the inclusion and advancement of women. This resulted
in the successful implementation of the programme strategy of integrating
women into high-value agricultural production and processing - activities that
were usually restricted to men. It also enabled women to enjoy the benefits
generated from the activities that they controlled. These benefits were mainly
used for improved household nutrition and for children’s education. But in cases
where the level of income increased significantly, women also reported
improvements in housing.
Women poultry producers in Bangladesh. Under the Microfinance and
Technical Support Project, MFTSP (2003-2010) IFAD supported the development
of women-centred poultry value chains. The project created a value chain that is
community-based and geographically limited, thereby overcoming the constraint
of women’s limited mobility. Women were trained to be specialized actors at welldefined nodes in the chain (i.e. model poultry breeders, mini-hatchery owners,
chick rearers and poultry keepers), and value was added by upgrading and
managing gene flow (improved poultry). The level of technology was appropriate
because mini-hatcheries are easy to build and manage. The project benefited
from staff committed to empowering women, both within government
departments and in the implementing organizations. In this way, women
generated an income stream for the household. Overall household income was
raised, there were more equitable roles and relations in the household, and
women’s status within the village increased.
Improving women’s access to water in Kenya and Mozambique. Improving
access to water for domestic purposes can have a tremendous impact on saving
women’s and children’s time and reducing their workload. Under the Central
Kenya Dry Area Smallholder and Community Services Development Project,
CKDAP (2000-2010) the time and effort saved by collecting water from piped
water within the homestead or from a nearby spring tap, was up to five hours per
day. Women spent the time saved on other activities, including casual labouring,
working in their own fields, watering livestock, irrigating their kitchen gardens,
starting small businesses, or keeping their house and surroundings cleaner.
Likewise, in Mozambique thanks to wells being sunk closer to their homesteads,
many women in Sofala Bank Artisanal Fishery Project, PPABAS (2002-2011)
saved energy and gained one or two hours per day for doing domestic,
agricultural and fishing activities, depending on the location and season. The
extra time spent in their fields or fishing for shrimps enabled them to bring more
food home for consumption and sale in the market.
Other benefits included a reduction in the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases,
particularly among children, and improvements in women’s physical health
because they did not have to carry heavy jerry cans so far, which damaged their
backs. Women had more time to cook meals at home and to care for their
children, which resulted in family relationships becoming more harmonious. In
Kenya, there was also less social tension over water supplies between women.
3.IFAD contribution for case study boxes for sections IV F and H of the
GSF, from the IFAD Environment and Natural Resource Management
Policy (2011)
Sustainable forest management in Mexico
IFAD is beginning implementation of a sustainable forest management project in
Mexico that will benefit 18,000 rural families dependant on forest resources. The
Community-based Forestry Development Project in Southern States (Campeche,
Chiapas and Oaxaca) will strengthen the capacity of indigenous peoples, who
represent 76 per cent of the target population, and other local foresters in these
states to better manage their natural resources, enhancing conservation practices
and providing sustainable income options for the most disadvantaged groups. The
project is based on ejidos and comunidades, two communal forms of land
ownership, and will help consolidate the organizational and planning capacities of
the beneficiary population for participatory management of their common natural
resources.
With support from the GEF, the project will also pilot ways for the government
and communities to contribute to climate change mitigation through better land
and forest use, and to access carbon finance as part of the new Mexican Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries
(REDD+) strategy. The project will reduce GHG emissions and increase carbon
sequestration through improved forest management and production techniques,
while generating subsistence alternatives and other benefits. Sustainable forest
management pilot activities are expected to generate nearly 18 tons C02 (e.g.
through carbon sequestration of emissions avoided). The project will also assist
the government in testing communal measurement, reporting and verification
activities, contributing in this way to strengthening national capacities on climate
change at the local level.
Green growth through value chains in West Africa
In Sao Tome and Principe, IFAD helped turn around the dying smallholder cocoa
sector, which had been suffering following the collapse of world market prices.
Rather than focusing on conventional cocoa, which in economic terms continues
to remain relatively unattractive for smaller producers, the Participatory
Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme set up
public-private partnerships with overseas buyers of organic, fair trade cocoa of
high quality. Within a short time, these arrangements helped farmers establish
export cooperatives and achieve stable and much improved incomes. Participating
farmers need two years for their plots to be declared free of chemical fertilizer
residues and to qualify for Ecocert© organic certification. Technicians employed
by one of the buyers, the National Agricultural Research Institute, and project
staff have all been providing training for farmers in organic and conservation
agriculture, solar drying, integrated pest management and other environmentally
sustainable practices, as well as in cooperative management, cooperative-led
extension and other services, and the principles of fair trade.
In Sierra Leone, a new initiative, the Rehabilitation and Community-Based
Poverty Reduction Project Plus, is aiming to build on the Sao Tome and Principe
experience and exploit the potential of growing markets for high-quality organic,
fair trade cocoa. The project will rehabilitate a 5,000-ha cocoa plantation
abandoned during the war, and has already identified as implementing partners
the Millennium Cocoa Growers Cooperative and Bio United, both certified ‘organic’
and exporting cocoa under the fair trade label. Activities include training of staff
and farmers and support to the rehabilitation and improved management of
plantations. Prices for good quality, certified cocoa are less susceptible to market
fluctuations and this encourages further investment and assures sustainability. In
addition to the extra income provided by intercropped plants, cocoa agroforestry
systems support greater biodiversity and avoid the land degradation and erosion
caused by slash-and-burn farming. A Least Developed Countries Fund grant from
the GEF will support the project through community-based climate change
adaptation planning – in the form of direct investments in soil and water
conservation, sustainable land management and erosion control.
Climate-smart rural development in China
Methane, which is released from animal manure, is 22 times more damaging than
carbon dioxide. By turning human and animal waste into methane for lighting and
cooking, an IFAD-funded project in China’s Guangxi Province is reducing poverty
and also helping reduce methane’s more damaging global warming effects. “We
used to cook with wood,” says Liu Chun Xian, a farmer involved in the project.
“The smoke made my eyes tear and burn and I always coughed. The children,
too, were often sick... Now that we’re cooking with biogas, things are much
better.”
Each household involved in the project built its own plant to channel waste from
the domestic toilet and nearby shelters for animals, usually pigs, into a sealed
tank. The waste ferments and is naturally converted into gas and compost. As a
result of the project, living conditions and the environment have improved.
Forests are protected, reducing GHG emissions from deforestation. A large
amount of straw, previously burned, is now put into biogas tanks to ferment. This
further reduces air pollution from smoke and helps produce high-quality organic
fertilizer. In addition, the project has resulted in better sanitary conditions in the
home.
Families, especially women, save 60 work days by not having to collect wood and
tend cooking fires. This additional time is invested in raising pigs and producing
crops. With more time to spend improving crops, farmers in Fada, a village in the
project area, increased tea production from 400 to 2,500 kilograms a day over a
five-year period. Average income in the village has quadrupled to just over a
dollar per day. This is significant in a country where the poverty line is 26 cents
per day. And as a result of the project, 56,600 tons of firewood can be saved in
the project area every year, which is equivalent to the recovery of 7,470 ha of
forest.
Mozambique: EU Food Facility in support of the Food Production Action
Plan (PRO-PAPA) through IFAD-Supported Projects and Programmes
Support to the Food Production Action Plan relied on EU financial support to
upscale selected activities in three programmes and projects co-financed by the
government of Mozambique and IFAD– the Sofala Bank Artisanal Fisheries Project
(PPABAS in the Portuguese acronym); the Rural Finance Support Programme
(PAFIR); and the Rural Market Promotion Programme (PROMER) under the
framework of the Food production action Plan (PAPA). The goal was to promote
and protect food and livelihood security of vulnerable households affected by
volatile food prices, while the purpose was to enhance agriculture and fisheries
production and productivity through better access to financial services, technical
support and markets for small producers.
At the project completion in March 2012, achievements included improved
smallholder access to and participation in agricultural markets and value chains,
greater efficiency of market intermediation systems, and more effective
partnerships and collaborations in value chains in agriculture and fisheries.
Critical success factors included a design strategy and approach focussed on
activities with fast implementation potential and short-term returns on food
security (both critical factors in the context of mitigating both price volatility and
its food security impact). Also critical was the active participation of stakeholders
in the identification and selection of interventions, with particular focus on market
infrastructure (roads, fish market facilities, and other). The development of
efficient and effective input and output markets, supported through the scaling up
of the projects involved, enabled smallholders to increase their agricultural
income by marketing their surpluses more profitably, with positive impact on
their wellbeing and food security. At the same time, artisanal fishers were
supported in their capacity to produce more and better quality fish (both for own
consumption and for the market), through access to credit, skills training,
improved boats, better market infrastructure, improved fishing and post-harvest
practices and equipment. Support to inland aquaculture activities also provided a
significant contribution to poverty alleviation, food security and nutrition in rural
areas away from the coast in a context of volatile prices.