Small Farm Reconstruction and Development Project

Small Farm Reconstruction and Development Project

The project targeted small-scale farmers whose farms had been almost totally destroyed during the war. The project area was located within former front-line territory and had suffered considerable war damage. The people who live in this area are some of the most disadvantaged in the country, with one third to one half of them displaced by the war.

The main objectives of the project were to reduce extreme poverty, improve national food security and generate rural employment opportunities. Project participants received a ‘subsistence’ package, particularly suited to households headed by women and to families of displaced persons. This package included either dairy cattle, sheep, goats or pigs. The project provided tractors and other equipment where needed, as well as veterinary and training support, especially in animal health and fodder production. It financed a study on how to re-establish the local Pramenka sheep industry, which had been destroyed by the war. It also funded a pilot credit scheme as a foundation for the development of rural financial services, to test the best ways for smallholders to obtain financing.

Source: IFAD