Project Example for the Extension of Phase I:

National Programme of Support to Food Security

(200- to 200-)

 

Introduction

1. The Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) was prepared and implemented in the country from the rainy season of 199-, employing a participatory and contractual approach that provided for close collaboration between the Government, FAO and the farmers’ organizations.

2. Its operational strategy is based on demonstrations aimed at identifying and disseminating appropriate, low-cost technologies related to water control and the intensification and diversification of agricultural production, and on the initiation and implementation by farmer groups of small rural projects adapted to local conditions.

3. The programme has been gradually put in place in areas with irrigation potential. Since 199-, activities have been extended to the other parts of the country. Its implementation has been greatly facilitated by South-South Cooperation Programme, in the form of some 100 experts and technicians, from another participating country, working alongside the farmers’ organizations of the country under discussion (the host country).

4. The results of the SPFS over the last years have been very encouraging and have been greatly appreciated by all parties concerned (Government, FAO and farmers’ organizations), as well as by the donor representatives who visited the programme in December ... The good results explain why the SPFS is being gradually extended, and why, with the resolute political will of the Government, it is now an integral and broader component of the present National Programme of Support to Food Security.

5. Recent studies conducted for the draft Agricultural Operational Strategy and Framework Plan indicate that present trends could produce a 0.9% per year drop in agricultural value added for the period 199- to 201- in all regions, with the exception of two regions, and therefore a significant reduction in rural income in areas already noted for their poverty. Because of its breadth of operation, the National Programme of Support to Food Security could reverse these trends.

Programme Objective

6. The programme objective is to improve the food security by rapidly increasing productivity and food production along economically and ecologically sustainable lines, and this within the more general framework of the fight against poverty.

7. The programme aims to make use of investments within the reach of village and urban communities, notably the poorest, to lastingly develop their confidence in a better life. By mobilizing all development partners, it aims to equip each village and each district ward with a food security project. The intention is to cover all the villages and district wards of the country over a period of four years, and gradually to guarantee the inhabitants access to an adequate and balanced diet and higher earnings.

Programme Strategy

8. The strategy for implementation of the programme, which is based on the achievements of the SPFS, remains deliberately participatory. Thanks to the partnership between agricultural experts and representatives of grassroots farmers' organizations, and drawing upon identified soil and water potential in the different agro-ecological areas, the strategy has helped identify corresponding major orientations for greater food security of the populations. It has sensitized all partners of government services and civil society, from region to village community level, to the objectives of the programme and its resulting prospects for responsible development supported by grassroots farmers’ organizations and their operational structures.

9. Under this pragmatic approach, the programme will conduct appropriate investments in conjunction with the local populations, and will gradually cover all villages and municipal wards. These investments - modest at first and modulated to level of household self-sufficiency - will gradually be broadened in proportion to marketable surpluses.

10. The national authorities will determine the intervention areas in consultation with representatives of farmers’ organizations and the local authorities, the selection criteria being the existence of development potential (associated primarily with the harnessing of water) and the declared interest of grassroots farmers’ organizations to participate through their work and/or their financial contribution to realizing and managing the investments.

Programme Content

11. Formulation and implementation of the programme activities will be determined in consultation with the grassroots groups and on the basis of two standard development models for each village and municipal ward adapted to local characteristics, as well as infrastructural project models in the case of rural communities to improve product marketing and economic returns:

(i) the model rural project will include the following components:

  • water control, with the development of simple, inexpensive irrigation and water collection systems using all available resources. A number of water harnessing, mobilization and distribution possibilities have been identified and, for the most part, successfully tested according to specific agro-ecological conditions (treadle pumps, small centrifugal motorized pumps, IRRIGASQ tubing, lowland irrigation schemes, slope impoundments, etc.);

  • crop intensification, with the transfer of appropriate technologies accessible to farmers (high yield varieties, integrated plant nutrition systems, integrated crop protection);

  • diversification of production, with the development of short-cycle animal production, aquaculture and artisanal fisheries;

  • storage, particularly of cereals (small sheet-metal silos);

  • analysis of food security constraints, particularly socio-economic constraints;

(ii) the model urban project will include:

  • hydroponic agriculture and cultivation in crates;

  • diversification of production (artisanal fisheries and aquaculture for coastal and riparian locations, poultry raising, etc.);

(iii) the model community infrastructure project – to be implemented to meet marketing requirements expected to rise as the project develops – will include:

  • storage and access infrastructure;

  • investments to improve public market places; and

  • support for the processing and marketing of products (small agro-industrial activities).

12. These models will be adjusted on a case-by-case basis according to the requirements expressed by the actors-beneficiaries during project formulation. Support from the rural council in rural areas and the municipal council in urban areas, particularly in mobilizing local resources, will be an important factor in accelerating programme implementation.

Training

13. Advisory support and assistance in implementing projects executed under the responsibility of the grassroots farmers’ groups, with possible help from their operational organizations and partner NGOs, will be provided by a team of technical experts and contact-farmers. A tiered trainer-training programme on demonstration sites, at national, regional, department, district and rural community level, will be organized to spread the use of effective practices already mastered in the country and the subregion. A friendly country's technical assistance, provided through the South-South Cooperation Programme, will contribute to training programme implementation to ensure that technology is transferred under best possible conditions. FAO will provide support in formulating and implementing this programme which should involve trainer technicians at various levels.

14. More specifically, this programme component will target:

  • the development and building of expertise of national, regional and community trainers; and

  • greater awareness on the part of administrative and political decision-makers at all levels of the objectives and implications of the programme.

Institutional Arrangements

15. The programme will be placed at national level under the authority of the National Food Security Council and under the direct supervision of a Steering Committee made up of representatives of the Government, donors and the National Council for Rural Coordination and Cooperation (CNCR). Implementation will be effected under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture which will delegate execution to FAO which will, in turn, act through the farmers' organizations - the true beneficiaries of the programme. Operations delivery will be entrusted to farmers' organizations which will ensure that the regions receive:

  • support to farmers’ organizations in the technical and financial preparation of projects, making maximum use of local skills (technical services, NGO); and

  • project coordination and monitoring.

Expected Results

16. The whole programme should generate a primary sector growth of about 5% per year, which, taking into account population growth (2.7%), represents an improvement in living conditions through capitalization of about 2 to 3% per year.

Implementation and Plan

17. The programme will be executed over a period of four years (2000 – 2003) in the following manner:

  • year 200-: implementation of village projects (531) and urban projects (105) based on low-cost water control to raise crop production and diversify activities (short-cycle livestock, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture); and the installation of small household metal silos;

  • year 200-: extension of the projects to other villages (4,000) and urban municipal wards (105), and implementation of larger capital works (hill dams, all-weather roads, etc.);

  • year 200-: continued expansion to other village sites (4,500) and urban sites (105) of actions initiated in years 1 and 2, and start of investment to improve product marketing (markets, storage facilities, small agro-industries, etc.);

  • year 200-: extension of operations to all villages (an additional 5,071 for a total of 14,102) and municipalities, and consolidation of actions undertaken in previous years.

Funding Requirements and Financial Plan

18. Under discussion and preparation.