Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme

Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme

The main objective of the programme is to contribute to sustainable improvements in the living conditions and incomes of small-scale farmers and artisanal fishers. The aims are to improve the access of poor farmers and artisanal fishers to internal and external markets and contribute to the ongoing restructuring of the rural sector initiated by land distribution and privatization. The programme will help consolidate more than 90 existing smallholders associations with the objective of empowering and supporting local development.

The aims of the programme are to:

• empower smallholders to improve their incomes by developing new products and activities and enable grass-roots organizations to lead value chain development activities, including exports
• support a pool of professional service providers who can respond to the needs and demands of smallholder farmers and fishers

A recent addition, directly related to the programme, is the Community Infrastructure Fund, which finances three types of projects:

• economic infrastructure such as small irrigation schemes and access road rehabilitation
• social infrastructure such as housing and potable water
• environmentally friendly technologies such as solar panels and energy derived from windmills

IFAD encourages other donors to provide additional resources for this fund.

Source: IFAD