The Bandama Valley region and the Savannah region in the country’s northern zone have high concentrations of rural poverty. But they also have a potential for small-scale irrigation and access to urban markets.

The operation is the first thematic project supported by IFAD focusing on small-scale irrigation related primarily to vegetable production and marketing in West Africa. The goal is to build the institutional, organizational and technical capacities of farmers’ groups, the private sector, NGOs and public agencies to develop irrigation on a small scale. The project’s target groups are mainly women and young people.

The objectives are to increase and stabilize incomes, and to strengthen the capacity of grass-roots organizations to procure technical support services and manage small-scale irrigation infrastructure. The expansion of dry season vegetable production boosts rural employment and leads to diversification of income sources. Links with microfinance institutions in the area provide poor rural people with access to financial services for investment in production and marketing.

A range of project activities aim to:

• provide technical and organizational assistance to farmers’ groups in obtaining and overseeing irrigation and technical services from service providers
• improve the capacity of farmers and service providers to construct, operate and maintain low-cost micro-irrigation schemes efficiently and in a sustainable manner
• establish a fund to finance irrigation services for farmers’ associations

The project is based on a flexible and participatory programming approach towards:

• grass-roots participatory planning and capacity-building
• irrigation development
• service provision for improving productivity and the socio-economic environment
• project coordination

Activities include systematic efforts to build synergies with existing national and regional projects operating in the project area, and with the IFAD grant-financed regional programme managed by the Africa Rice Center (WARDA).

After being frozen for years as a result of civil conflict, the project was refocused in 2008, though its strategy remains the same. Emphasis is now placed on rice and small horticulture production. Other aspects of local and agricultural development are being addressed, where possible, by other programmes and projects and specialized institutions.

Source: IFAD