RURAL DEVT. II

closed

The Basic Agricultural Services Program (BASP) is aimed at increasing output of five major crops (maize, sorghum, beans, peas and wheat) in six development blocks, covering 75 percent of Lesotho's arable land and encompassing about 66 percent of the country's population, through the provision of agricultural inputs, training, credit, extension, stores, roads, and marketing facilities. The proposed IDA credit would assist specifically the improvement of the institutional capabilities of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) by (a) establishing a Basic Agricultural Services Program Division and strengthening the Administrative, Accounting and Crops Division; (b) establishing a Central Credit Management Unit within MOA; (c) establishing a Planning and Evaluation Division, and (d) supporting a training component within MOA's Extension and Information Division, in order to enable MOA to coordinate and supervise BASP.