AGR REHAB & DEVT

closed

The First Agricultural Rehabilitation and Development (ARDP) Project, to which the UNDP is contributing $1.7 million equivalent on grant terms for technical assistance, will (a) directly benefit about 10,000 poor farm families by raising incomes of nearly half of them above poverty levels and of the other half by about 20; (b) improve nutrition by helping increase rice and pork production in the Vientiane Province through improved water management, provision of an agronomic package to farmers and establishment of a regular supply of piglets for fattening; and (c) strengthen planning and implementation capacity of agencies involved in rural development. Specifically, the project will include: (i) construction and rehabilitation of about 48 small gravity and pump irrigation schemes, varying from 100 to 300 ha each, over a total of about 8,300 ha; (ii) establishment of 10 pig multiplication units of 120 sows each; (iii) production of improved rice seeds and research and development of rice cultivation techniques; (iv) credit for agricultural inputs and pig feed; (v) procurement of equipment, vehicles, materials, pig breeding stock and agricultural inputs; and (vi) technical assistance for project planning and execution, and studies to prepare a program of small irrigation works for other priority areas.