Sucre Support Project for Small Producers

The objective of the project was to improve the incomes and living conditions of small-scale farmers and artisanal fishers by increasing their productivity. Its aims were to expand the cultivated area and increase the fish catch of about 60 boats.

The project area included one of the poorest zones in Venezuela. Efforts to increase export-oriented crops had benefited farmers cultivating on a larger scale and had bypassed small-scale producers with limited land and insufficient support services for production, principally credit and technology. In this project, extension services were combined with credit delivery.

One objective of the project was to increase agricultural productivity and production through improved technology that was to be provided to farmers by strengthened institutional services. The project also worked to increase employment and incomes by generating new agricultural woks and introducing improved techniques in fishery operations. Other objectives were to provide small-scale farmers and fishers with guaranteed access to credit and to help integrate the farm economy into the market, increasing its share of the market on more favourable terms.

Source: IFAD