AG. SERVICES

closed

The projects main objectives are: (i) to set up permanent rural support services at a cost to Government that will eventually become sustainable without outside assistance and, (ii) to support the tendency among local people to organize themselves in groups to manage village affairs. Project benefits are of two orders: first, the building of stronger, better coordinated agricultural institutions which will operate at lower costs than the sum total of the fragmented, sometimes overlapping donor-funded interventions that prevailed so far; second, improvements in the livelihood of rural people, made possible by project actions designed to increase agricultural productivity and create artisanal employment. Since women provide the majority of labor for crop maintenance and processing, the successful extension of labor saving technologies will be of particular benefit to them by reducing their workload. Through the community participation approach, villages will become increasingly more efficient at managing their own affairs. The educated rural youths are expected to gain responsibility and social status as a result. Other equally significant benefits are expected to arise from the emergence of numerous, varied trading and artisanal activities which will stimulate exchanges and monetize the economy in the project area.