|
 With support from the International
Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) and USAID, IFDC is undertaking two
closely linked pilot projects to promote sustainable agricultural
intensification by smallholder farmers. The project, under the direction
of Dr. Arno Maatman, is active in 7 West African countries, collaborates
with more than 30 public and private facilitating organizations, and
involved at least 100,000 smallholder farmers and 500 local
entrepreneurs. The project enabled the development of the Competitive
Agricultural Systems and Enterprises (CASE) approach, a holistic
action-oriented approach that fosters both technological and
institutional change, through bottom-up learning processes.
Networking
services enable farmers, local entrepreneurs, local business development
services, and credit institutions to strengthen the competitive
advantages of the region, for specific industry clusters. These services
involve both social and individual learning through training,
experimentation, study visits, and platform-building activities. It also
includes occasional support to well-targeted events such as trade fairs
and mass media campaigns. Some results from the two pilot projects
include:
-
An estimated 100,000 farmers have
adopted ISFM technologies on a significant part of their farms. The
value: cost ratios of ISFM options adopted are well above 2, and
returns to family labor are 2-6 times higher than the average salary
in the area. Farm-level incomes of ISFM farmers have increased by
20%-50%.
-
ISFM
farmer learning groups established in 300 pilot villages are leading
the development and validation of ISFM options for a focused set of
marketable products and experimenting with alternative institutional
arrangements to improve access to factor (including information) and
product markets.
-
Organizational capacities of farmer
groups in the pilot areas have improved. Farmer groups at the village
and regional levels have assumed new roles such as input provisioning,
information dissemination, linkages to credit and savings systems and
local and regional traders, including retailers and fertilizer
companies.
-
About 500 local entrepreneurs—inputs
dealers, traders, managers of warehouses and processing units—have
received training, participated in round table meetings, and worked
with ISFM farmer groups.
-
Gender awareness increased in the pilot
villages and within the facilitating institutions. Women play an
important role in the ISFM project activities and related decision
making. They are on average equally represented in the ISFM farmer
groups and often have leading roles.
-
Land tenure security improved for ISFM
farmers, including female farmers. In some cases, contracts between
landowners and ISFM farmers were established for a sequence of years.
-
Capacities of facilitating organizations
were strengthened. The quality of services provided to farmers and
local entrepreneurs has improved considerably.
Return to
Agribusiness --->
|
