Agriculture, Marketing and Enterprise Promotion Programme

The programme’s aim is to improve the livelihoods of poor people living in isolated areas in the rugged districts of Lhuentshe, Mongar, Pemagatshel, Samdrup-Jongkhar, Trashigang and Yangtse. In this region of high mountains and deep valleys, the lack of rural road infrastructure is a severe constraint on development.

Poor rural people in the region are largely without access to markets and economic and social services. Many rural communities are cut off entirely from the road network and depend on animal and head-load transport. In addition to caring for their households, women perform much of the farm work, cultivating land and raising animals. Women’s roles are expanding as male household members migrate to look for work elsewhere. 

The overall objective is to help poor rural people improve their living standards on a sustainable basis and improve their access to services. The programme supports:

• capital formation in crop, livestock and niche-crop production
• improved start-up and operating conditions for income-generating activities and small rural enterprises
• improved access to rural financial services, especially credit
• capacity-building in grass-roots organizations and skills development
• improvements in the socio-economic infrastructure, particularly roads, as well as marketing support systems

Guided by village-based development plans, activities focus on:

• improving agricultural production and strengthening extension services and training 
• promoting marketing by providing support for infrastructure and marketing information services, and strengthening local capacity for quality control
• providing rural financial services that enable people to build assets 
• developing rural infrastructure
• supporting programme management and institutional capacity-building

Source: IFAD