Project ID: 1181
Executive Board Document: EB-2001-72-R-20

Rural Enterprise Project

The proposed project will address the needs of at least 3 000 households in Grenada, adopting and adapting appropriate strategies already applied by poorer households, which include spreading risks and ensuring access to a range of food and income sources. The project will offer rural households the chance to enhance their income by helping them to recognize and realize economic opportunities. The aim is to provide an enabling environment for project clients by

fostering efficient sector and market linkages;

strengthening communities so that they are can take responsibility for their own development;

supporting rural service providers so that they can meet community needs; and

encouraging a diverse range of income sources, sustainable in the longer term.

The project should lead to greater employment opportunities and higher productivity in the agriculture sector, resulting in a greater proportion of production reaching the market, including items sold to tourists at source rather than through market intermediaries. The project will adopt a gender-equity approach throughout implementation and is expected to contribute to a country-wide decrease in gender inequities. The project will have a positive effect on household food security and improved processing technologies, in particular allowing families with small landholdings to use more food output. Through livestock development measures, it offers opportunities to the poor to generate income and improve the nutrition of their families. Benefits will be enhanced by the nutritional training and food promotional activities carried out under the project. The nutritional status of families, and particularly young children, is expected to improve as a result.

There are areas of extreme poverty in Grenada and a wide disparity of living standards across the country. A recent national poverty assessment concluded that 32.1% of all individuals in Grenada were poor, in that their expenditure was unable to meet minimal food and other basic requirements. It also found 12.9% to be extremely poor or indigent. Women and children were the most seriously affected by poverty, with half of the poor under 20 years of age. There is a potential target population of 26 000 persons living below the poverty line in rural areas, but the project will assist a minimum of 3 000 households, or 12 000 persons within 41 poorer rural communities. Benefits are calculated for about 2 920 households operating smallholdings and 80 households with microenterprises. In addition to these direct beneficiaries, 120 artisan households will benefit from training in design and production techniques; 120 fishermen will be trained in safety, health and handling; and 150 banana growers will gain access to a market. A further 1 500 households are likely to benefit indirectly from project investments in the designated poor communities.

Loan amount:

SDR 3.25 million (equivalent to approximately USD 4.2 million)on intermediate terms

Total project costs are estimated at USD 7.7 million, of which USD 2.2 million will be provided by Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)

Cooperating Institution:

CDB