CEARA II INTERGRATED

closed

The Ceara Second Rural Development Project will assist in raising the productivity and incomes of about 60,000 farm families and about 1,100 small-scale entrepreneurs by providing: (a) agricultural extension, experimentation, and land surveying, titling and purchase services; (b) agricultural cooperative development; (c) assistance to small non-agricultural enterprises; (d) feeder roads, marketing facilities, and small irrigation systems; (e) education, health, and sanitation services; and (f) project coordination and management. The direct beneficiaries comprise about 20% of the small farmer target population in the state, almost all of whom fall below Brazil's relative poverty level. The project will develop the institutional capacity to plan and execute a coordinated rural development program covering priority areas throughout the State of Ceara. This rural development project is the most comprehensive, in terms of geographical area and coordination of programs, to be attempted so far in northeast Brazil. It thus presents certain planning and financial risks, in addition to those linked to agricultural development.