FRUIT & VEGETABLE EXPORT

closed

The proposed project aims to expand market access for horticultural exports such as raisins, vegetable seeds, potatoes, onions, and fresh fruit through the provision of cleaning, packing and trucking equipment, grading and export certification systems, and marketing and on-farm credits. The project would be executed through two financial intermediaries, three entities and other subborrowers. The project would benefit a total of over one million farm families mostly through improved raisin quality and raisin storage yielding higher producer prices. Increased earnings for small farmers, who are the major producers of labor intensive fruits and vegetables, would be achieved by developing improved market access for horticultural crops. The project faces a risk in that the project entities, except for AgBank, are lacking in competent managerial and technical staff and are at present inexperienced in the fields of operations envisaged under the project. A large technical assistance component and a special contractual arrangement with an internationally recognized seed company would be included in the project to tackle this problem.