Rural Business Development Project

This project will be implemented in 27 municipalities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 20 municipalities in Republika Srpska. It is expected to directly benefit 20,000 rural households, including:

• smallholder farmers – both men and women – interested in commercial agriculture
• producers' associations and agriculture cooperatives with outreach to smallholder famers
• women and unemployed youth interested in non-farm wage employment or self-employment.

The project goal is to raise the target groups' incomes and strengthen their resilience by building profitable farm and non-farm enterprises in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Organizing smallholder farmers and providing them technical and business skills, together with market access and financial services, can help orient them towards commercial production, make them more competitive and lead to higher incomes and more employment in rural areas. In this regard, the project will focus on rural business support, rural business investments and rural market infrastructure.