IFAD finances one ongoing project in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development Project (READ). The overall goal of READ is to contribute to the improvement of the social and economic conditions of resource-poor households, especially small-scale producers and vulnerable groups, increasing their human, social, organizational and financial assets.

The US$6.9 million project became effective on 15 January, 2009, and is slated to close in September 2015. Executed by the Agricultural Sector Development Unit (ASDU) of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the project benefits from a US$5.6 million in IFAD loans and grants. The Government of Guyana and beneficiaries themselves contribute US$1.1 million.

The project is slated to benefit some 5,200 poor rural households in project priority areas with the goal of enabling these households to rise above the poverty line of US$365 per capita per annum. Given an overage household size of four members, it is anticipated that 20,800 people will benefit directly from project activities, 53 per cent of whom will be men and 47 per cent women.

Specifically, the project looks to increase the market opportunities available to small rural producers, increase the capacity of rural producers to efficiently and effectively produce and market non-traditional products and develop small-scale enterprises, strengthen rural services available to small producers especially directed at increasing their productivity and reducing their vulnerability, increase access to financial services, and build human and social capacity at the community level to facilitate increased self-reliance in addressing challenges for sustainable development.

The project targets farmers (both men and women) growing non-traditional crops with up to 5 acres under cultivation; operators of micro and small-scale enterprises with no more than five permanent workers; households that have farming and rural resource-based activities as a major income source; households unable to participate in the synergistic benefit of integrating production, processing and marketing of their produce, subsistence farmers; and agriculture or non-agriculture-based rural households whose young members are presently underemployed. The project pays particular attention with woman-headed households, young people and Amerindian communities.

Poor rural households from region 2 (Pomeroon-Supenaan), 3 (Essequibo Island-West Demerara), 4 (Demerara-Mahaica), 5 (Mahaica-Berbice), 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) of the country will benefit from better access to financial and other capital services, as well as training in the areas of enterprise development, marketing, organizational and social development. Key components of the project include focuses on market and rural enterprise development, and human and social capital strengthening.

Completed operations