Agricultural Services Subsector Investment Project

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The Agricultural Services Subsector Investment Project aims at a) initiating and accelerating policy and institutional reforms for the strengthening of Government's capacity; b) decentralizing the planning and implementation of agricultural development programs to the regions and districts; c) promoting cost-effective demand-driven agricultural and extension systems to generate and disseminate technologies on a contracting and/or cost sharing basis; and d) strengthening the capacity of farmers-based organizations. The project consists of four components. 1) Reforming and strengthening agricultural technology generation and diffusion as the main thrust of the program will accelerate agricultural growth that results in increased food security, reduced poverty, and conservation of the natural resource base. 2) Institutional reform and strengthening of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) will integrate resources for implementation of plans and provision of decentralized services under the administration of district assemblies, thus placing the responsibility for planning and implementation of agricultural services and development activities at the grassroots level. 3) Development of farmer-based organizations (FBOs) will develop a grassroots independent movement of FBOs. 4) Strengthening agricultural education and training will strengthen the capacity of agricultural training institutions to produce the middle level human resources/skills critically needed in the sector.