Millennium Development Authority

Summary of the Agriculture Project and related Project Activities

The Agriculture Project is designed to enhance the profitability of staple food and horticulture crops and to improve delivery of business and technical services to support the expansion of commercial agriculture among farmer-based organizations (“FBO’s), which are groups of eligible farmers, input suppliers selling to these farmers, or output processors buying from the farmers. Funds from the Compact will support the following Project Activities:

Farmer and Enterprise Training in Commercial Agriculture: To accelerate the development of commercial skills and capacity among FBOs and their business partners (including service providers to FBOs and other entities adding value to agricultural crops such as processors)

Irrigation Development: To establish a limited number of retention ponds and weirs request by the FBOs and FBO partnerships for whom access to water is critical to the success of their business objectives

Land Tenure Facilitation: To improve tenure security for existing land users and to facilitate access to land for commercial crops in the Intervention Zones

Improvement of Post-Harvest handling and Value Chain Services: To facilitate strategic investments by FBOs in post-harvest infrastructure improvements and to build the capacity of the public sector to introduce and monitor compliance with international plant protection standards

Improvement of Credit Services for On-Farm and Value Chain Investments: To augment the supply of, and access to, credit provided by financial institutions operating in the Intervention Zones

Rehabilitation of Feeder Roads: To rehabilitate up to 950 km of feeder roads in the Intervention Zones in order to reduce transportation costs and time, to increase access to major domestic and international markets, and to facilitate transportation linkages from rural areas to social service networks (including, for instance, hospitals, clinics and schools).