COMMON PROJECT ELEMENT

PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS FOR

SPFS PHASE I - DIVERSIFICATION COMPONENT

1. Overall responsibility for programme implementation will lie with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) through its Departments A and B. A will be responsible for all small stock activities while B will be responsible for the apiculture and aquaculture activities.

2. Coordination of the different inputs by the above Departments will be carried out by the National Programme Coordinator (NPC). The NPC will also be responsible for the facilitation of linkages among other central and field level institutions whose operations have a bearing on the SPFS. He/she will liaise with FAO and other donors who may be interested in participating in the SPFS. Additionally, he/she, in consultation with the respective officers in A and B, will be responsible overall for the sourcing and timely delivery of project inputs and outputs, including the recruitment of consultants, formulation of the annual workplans for the programme and for regularly reporting programme activities to the National Steering Committee.

3. The Director of A will be responsible for supplying livestock extension to the farmers; recommending on what animals and birds to buy and methodologies for their upkeep; and organizing livestock training activities for farmers and front-line extension workers.

4. The Director of B will provide apiculture and aquaculture extension support to farmers in all aspects of bee-keeping and pond-based fish production; assist farmers in sourcing fingerlings and pond inputs; and provide training to both farmers and front-line extension staff involved in the programme.

5. Provision of the equipment and inputs under the programme are encouraged to be given as credit in kind. The Departments A and B will supply them to selected farmers on credit preferably using the services of a local NGO which will also be responsible for the recovery of credit. It is recommended that the credit, wherever possible, be recovered in kind.

6. Participating farmers will individually own and look after the livestock, bee and fish operations. However, where some of the project inputs like bucks and boars are shared by several farmers, the field level extension officer will identify a farmer most capable to look after them. The master farmers will own the animals and charge a fee for their use for cross-breeding by other farmers within the community.

7. The fish ponds will each be owned and managed by a master farmer selected among the group of farmers who will have expressed interest in participating in the aquaculture demonstrations. Each master farmer will be associated with at least three other farmers interested in fishery who would actively obtain training on his/her pond. With the guidance of front-line extension officer (trainer), the master farmer will plan and arrange for the stocking, feeding regime, harvesting, marketing and draining of the pond and, later, re-stocking.