Agricultural Marketing and Credit Project

The first IFAD-funded project in Lesotho was designed to complement the government’s Basic Agricultural Services Project (BASP), which had the aim of providing small farmers with farm support services and infrastructure essential to increase food production. The aim of the IFAD project was to provide small-scale farmers with crucial farm support services not provided by the BASP project. These included assistance in the areas of input distribution, marketing services and agricultural credit. The credit facility assisted women who headed farming households to obtain help in the form of labour and draught animals during the crucial period when the land is being prepared for crops.

The project provided:

• working capital, along with management and technical assistance, to Coop Lesotho Ltd to meet farmers’ needs for efficient distribution of inputs such as fertilizers and seeds
• a programme of seasonal, short-term, medium-term and long-term credit administered by the Lesotho Agricultural Development Bank (LADB), including management and technical assistance
• funds for monitoring and evaluation of activities
• institutional and technical studies covering the development of the cooperative sector and the feasibility of establishing a seed multiplication unit

Source: IFAD