PDCRE - Benefits, justifications and risks

SMALLHOLDER CASH AND EXPORT CROP DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Benefits, justifications and risks

Innovative Features and Conformity with the COSOP Strategic thrusts

The major innovation of the project is the set of measures aimed at introducing the Rwanda poor smallholder growers of cash and export crops in the world of modern industrial business, marketing and finance. The institutional and financial arrangements proposed provide the bridge between local small farmers associations and the type of organizations that have the legal and financial power to play in the global international market. A key innovation of the project design is the association of a non-profit organization specialised in promoting the linkages between producer cooperatives in developing countries and Fair Trade organizations having access to the retail gourmet market in high income countries. In view of the limited experience of both IFAD and the partner Government of Rwanda in dealing with FT organization, IFAD has secured the participation of TWIN as FT project partner and project co-financier. These features of the project respond to IFAD strategy aimed at increasing participation and empowerment of the poor in the full cycle of production processing and marketing of their produce, and of securing effective cooperation with the private sector.

The key points of IFAD Strategic Framework and of the Regional strategies have been recalled at the beginning of Chapter IV. The project design attempts to put them into practice within the context of the cash and export crop sub-sector in Rwanda. The following table summarises the response of the project design to the IFAD strategic thrusts in Rwanda as adopted in the COSOP approved in 2001.

Table 8: Reponses of the project design to the IFAD strategic thrusts adopted in the COSOP

Project components	Coffee Diversification	Tea development		Smallholder guaranteed credit	New cash crop development	Project Coordination
IFAD strategic thrusts
1. Support to GOR decentralisation and privatisation policy	Establishment of autonomous private (cooperative) companies for processing and marketing				Project responds to demand of grower groups., small and medium size private enterprises
2. Development of sustainable micro-finance institutions			Strengthening role of primary cooperative societies and farmer associations, linkages with viable commercial enterprises, and establishment of relationships with RDB and commercial banks
3. new ways of technology generation & transfer	Linkages with FT organizations to secure know-how for top quality production Funding national research to keep abreast of developments
4. diversification of income generation and marketing	Emphasis of top quality production, FLO certification of tea and coffee products, prices guarantee by quality control and FT trading partners	Smallholders including women get tea plot in Nshili			Farmers, particularly women, not involved in traditional crops are encouraged to grow new cash crops	Participatory Performance Evaluation Workshops. Beneficiary Tracking
5. support to small and medium size enterprises				Main thrust of new crop development
5 support to community infrastructure
6. cross cutting emphasis on women	Women coffee growers encouraged to join primary societies	30 to50 per cent of tea plots of Nshili OCIR-Thé estate go to women			Many new crops will be grown by women
7. decentralised project management & improved reporting and monitoring	Processing and marketing enterprises are private independent units with fully autonomous management			The credit scheme is operated by independent autonomous primary societies	Production processing and marketing by autonomous PMEs or farmers associations	Outsourcing implementation, agreements with providers of services to poor smallholders

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