Support to Farmers' Professional Organizations and Agricultural Services Project

The goal of the project is to strengthen existing farmers’ organizations, with the aim of improving agricultural production and increasing the incomes of rural households.

The project area initially includes some districts in the regions of Anosy and Haute Masiatra, and it will expand in a second phase into the neighbouring regions of Androy and Ihorombe, and in a third phase into the region of Amoroni Mani. Upon confirmation of financing from the African Development Bank, the project would also intervene in the Bongolava region. In the Anosy region, the project builds upon the experiences of the IFAD-funded Upper Mandrare Basin Development Project.

The target population consists mainly of 75,000 poor rural households belonging to 1,000 farmers’ organizations at grass-roots level. The project will also work with their federations at regional levels and with apex organizations at national level. Participating households include small-scale farmers with little or no land, families with nutritional deficits, and women and young people.

The project will boost agricultural production by supporting farmers and their membership in farmers’ associations and value-chain organizations. The farmers’ organizations will assist members in voicing demands for services from local agricultural service centers, and they will also mobilize providers to deliver the services required.

The project’s specific objectives are to:

• reinforce farmers and their organizations to better integrate them into the economy
• facilitate farmers’ access to services by matching demand and supply
• increase production levels by establishing financial mechanisms responding to demand for services, through the Agricultural Development Fund and the Regional Agricultural Development Fund

Activities under the project will focus on support for:

• professional organizations and a professional approach on the part of producers
• intermediation and development of agricultural services
• financing of production and services
• national policy on services and apex organizations

The project emphasizes a flexible, demand-driven participatory approach. As part of the government’s Agricultural Sector Programme, a national sector-wide approach within the framework of the Madagascar Action Plan, it will contribute to the diversification of the rural economy and to poverty reduction. Working with IFAD as partners and cofinanciers, the European Union will support technical assistance, and the African Development Bank and the World Bank will finance infrastructure development. IFAD will directly supervise the project together with its partners.