Midwest Development Support Project

Midwest Development Support Project

The Midwest Development Support Project, located in an under-populated, high-potential immigration zone, aimed at increasing the agricultural production and food security of the poorest households by intensifying cultivation of the main crops, expanding cultivated areas and developing livestock production. Thus it constructed more than 100 hydroagricultural dams, allowing the irrigation of 2,500 ha as against the anticipated 1,700 ha. A total of 110 km of tracks were established and tracks on slopes greater than 6 per cent were sealed, a first for the region. The project also had the aim of encouraging the creation of local associations capable of taking charge of their own development. Joint local granaries were tried out, then established by the project, and the concept was later taken up, improved and expanded to the national level by microfinance networks.

Lastly, the project’s activities helped to prevent environmental degradation through better land use and erosion control measures.

Source: IFAD