Photo by Roberto Faidutti Promotion of Rural Entrepreneurship Project - Phase II An extension worker shows a group of women how to conserve beans.

Project area. The project will operate in the groundnut basin of Senegal, in areas with similar agroecological conditions.  

Target group. The project is expected to reach about 36,000 small family farms (or approximately 360,000 persons). It will pay special attention to the needs of extremely vulnerable rural households, women and women's groups, and underemployed rural young people.

Project objectives. The project's development goal is to bring about sustainable improvements in the incomes and livelihoods of family farms in the groundnut basin by facilitating their entry into structured and profitable value chains. Its specific objectives are to: (i) help the target group develop profitable economic activities by promoting formal partnerships between farmers' organizations and private-sector market operators with expertise in outputs that are both suited to local agroecological conditions and environmentally sound; and (ii) ensure that all operators in the priority value chains, particularly target group members, have opportunities to dialogue with other stakeholders (public and private) in order to influence decisions affecting access to markets and the equitable distribution of returns along the different commodity chains.

Project description. The project will have three components focusing on local, regional and national levels, to be fine-tuned during design:

• Agricultural diversification and access to markets. At the local level, the project will promote mutually beneficial partnerships  between farmers' organizations and private-sector market operators. It will also support the rehabilitation of irrigation schemes - financed under IFAD-funded projects that are now closed - to be owned and managed by farmers' organizations.
• Development and structuring of value chains. This will involve, at the regional level: (i)  developing and organizing selected priority commodity chains (currently millet, cowpeas, sesame, sorel and farmyard chickens are being contemplated); and (ii) constructing community-level infrastructure, as needed, to remove constraints to developing and strengthening value chains (e.g. market sheds, storage facilities, feeder roads or crossing structures, and public hydraulic works).
• National dialogue, knowledge management and project coordination. The project will promote mutually profitable interactions among all agriculture-sector actors, with special emphasis on product-supported value chains, and facilitate substantive national-level policy dialogue with the Government. It will also support the collection, processing and dissemination of information that is useful to value chain actors,  including small farmers, women and young people,  and help capture and share  experiences and lessons learned. A small project coordination unit will also be supported.

Important features. The project is consistent with the Government's priorities as set out in the national strategy for growth and poverty reduction.  It is also aligned with the IFAD Strategic Framework 2007-2010 and with IFAD's 2004 country strategic opportunities paper for Senegal, which identified the need to consolidate and develop local, pro-poor crop and livestock commodity chains in response to the groundnut crisis and the lack of alternative income sources for the rural poor in the fast-declining central region of Senegal. Key innovative features include: (i) the choice of pro-poor commodity chains that are known locally and that have high potential for participation by the most vulnerable rural people; (ii) private-sector partnerships between farmers' organizations and market operators; (iii) performance and results-based contracts with the project implementing agencies; and (iv) a strong capacity-building programme for farmers' organizations.

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Potential cofinanciers. The OPEC Fund for International Development has confirmed its interest in  cofinancing the project’s infrastructure subcomponent.

Facts and figures Region: Western and Central Africa Project name: Agricultural Value Chains Support Project Region: Western and Central Africa Country: Senegal Project ID number: 1414 Nature of project: Pro-poor value chain support Project cost (provisional): US$30.89 million Estimated IFAD financing: To be determined (a country-specific grant is contemplated) Cofinancing gap: See section on potential cofinanciers Domestic contribution: To be determined Proposed terms: Highly concessional Stage of project cycle: Under detailed project design Next step in project development: Project design completion process starting in May 2008, with a  country meeting scheduled for the same month. Tentative date for consideration by the Executive Board: September 2008 Project duration: Six years Tentative project start-up date: February 2009 Implementing agency: Ministry of Agriculture Borrower: Republic of Senegal Hot links Rural poverty in Senegal IFAD operations in Senegal Planned project activities disclaimer Contact information Mr M. Béavogui Director, Western and Central Africa Ms S. Marzin Country Programme Manager, Western and Central Africa Division s.marzin@ifad.org International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Via Paolo di Dono, 44, 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 0654591 e-mail: ifad@ifad.org