Shire Valley Transformation Program - Phase 1

closed

The development objective of the Shire Valley Transformation Program for Malawi is to increase agricultural productivity and commercialization for targeted households in the Shire Valley; and to improve the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources. There are five components in this project. The first component, irrigation service provision will finance the works, goods and services necessary to develop bulk irrigation and drainage infrastructure in the SVIP Phase 1 area. This includes preparation of detailed designs and construction supervision and quality assurance, construction of the physical bulk water conveyance and main distribution system, major drainage and service and access roads.This component has 2 sub-component, (i) infrastructure development and (ii) support to effective and sustainable irrigation management, operation and maintenance. The second component, land tenure and natural resources management support the piloting of the new land legal framework in a development setting,formation of consolidated farm blocks by smallholders with secure land tenure, for commercial agriculture, based on a flexible approach, modeled on successful regional examples. It supports natural resources management to broaden the multi-sectoral benefits of the program and enhance environmental sustainability within the modernization program. The program will invest in protected areas, the Elephant Marshes and associated activities that will support improved natural resource management and the development of a broader land use plan for the Shire Valley. This component has two sub-component, (i) supporting land governance and land consolidation, and (ii) natural resources management; The third component, agriculture development and commercialization finances on-farm investments in irrigation and drainage, land leveling, and commercial farm development. This will also include farm equipment (fixed and moveable), initial production and management support at SOCFE level, and basic infrastructure. The component also supports targeted technical assistance and quality control mechanisms in the process of forming productive alliances and setting up SOCFE management; The fourth component, project management and coordination will finance the multiple coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and management needs of a project of this scale and focus on the roll out of the communications strategy and manage the grievance redress mechanism, as well as day-to-day management, and monitoring and evaluation of the project; The fifth component, PPA repayment will finance the repayment of the Project Preparation Advance that the Government obtained for project preparation activities and studies.