Sudan Emergency Locust Response and Food Security Project

dropped

Component 1: Desert Locust Surveillance, Control and Preparedness. This component is designed to limit the growth and spread(driven by climate change and climate patterns) of existing outbreak or likely DL invasions while mitigating the risks associatedwith the control measures and their impacts on human health and the environment. It will scale up the ongoing activities of thePlant Protection Department (PPD) of the MoAF which is in charge of locust response and will focus primarily on the urgent,prioritized needs to support locust survey and control operations and promote national preparedness. The component will strengthenthe technical capacity of the PPD and the sustainability of the survey and control operations through the use of biopesticides withlow carbon footprint. The PPD is currently being supported with technical assistance from the FAO which is expected to becontracted for implementation of this component. Sub-component 1.1: Improve Desert Locust Surveillance and Control. Through theprovision of equipment, technology, training and operational expenses, this sub-component will enhance the capacity of PPD andother relevant staff at the national, state, and local levels, as well as relevant communities, on locust identification, swarmmanagement techniques, and damage assessment. Towards this, the Project will finance goods and equipment such as groundtransportation for field operations and surveillance drones for hard-to-reach areas. The Project will support control operationsthrough the provision of spraying equipment, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and renting of control planes. The controlmeasures would emphasize neutralizing hopper bands using bio-pesticides before they develop into adult swarms, the control of whichrequires extensive use of conventional pesticides. The Project component will strengthen the quality of field operations throughprocurement/rehabilitation of mobile mechanical workshops and service vehicles, including fuel and water tankers, and upgrading ofselected field camps. The Project will provide technical support and training to both ground survey and control teams as well asthe rural population. The Project will support the scaled up adoption of surveillance tools, such as Locust3 tablets. To improveimplementation of Environmental and Health Standards (EHS) for DL control operations, this sub-component will also focus on thesecure handling and storage of pesticides. It will support the construction of a pesticide storage facility, purchase mobilepesticide incinerators, and provide training on EHS. .Sub-component 1.2: Strengthening National Preparedness and RegionalCoordination. The Project will help establish linkages with regional and international organizations for overall preparedness fortransboundary pests. The Project will strengthen resilience by supporting Sudan’s activities with relevant regional/internationalinstitutions in areas such as early warning system management, climate prediction system or research in biocontrol mechanisms toname a few. As a country participating in the MPA, Sudan will be able to engage with the IGAD information platform on DL, financedunder phase 3 of the MPA, for cross-learning among participating states and to ensure that campaigns for the control of DL andother trans-boundary pests are tackled in accordance with area-wide principles of integrated pest management.Component 2:Supporting Food Security and Resilient Livelihoods. This component will provide support to increase the availability of and accessto food through restoring household food production capacity and protecting livestock assets among vulnerable farmers,pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and fishing households that are, or likely to be, in the path of DL invasions. It will also provideemergency livelihood support to vulnerable rural populations by financing labor-intensive agricultural public works that wouldcontribute to improving incomes, agricultural productivity and commercialization in the targeted project areas. Sub-component 2.1:Support for Increased Agricultural Production. This sub-component will target both vulnerable households involved in homesteadgardening as well as relatively larger smallholders involved in commercial farming. Activities related to homestead gardens willfocus on women participation in particular, given that women largely engage in activities that further nutritional outcomes at thehousehold level (through food production, purchase, preparation, child feeding and child-care). The activities under thissub-component will be implemented by MoAF in all project states, using institutional structures and mechanisms set up with supportfrom the ongoing IFAD-funded SNRLP, with the exception of the Red Sea state. As the Government does not have an IFAD-fundedpresence in the Red Sea state, the MoAF will enter into an output agreement with FAO for the implementation of this sub-componentin the Red Sea state. The FAO is currently active in the Red Sea state where it is already implementing livelihood supportactivities and has established the relevant systems and structures necessary. This sub-component will be financed asfollows:Activity 2.1(a): Activities to be implemented by MoAF. The activities will cover (i) provision of inputs for kitchengardens and field crops, (ii) provision of improved breeds of (small) livestock, (iii) fishing kits for immediate food access, (iv)revolving agricultural commodity programs and (v) provision of extension services and training. They will be implemented by MOAFin all project states using institutional structures (for example State Implementation Units) and mechanisms set up under theongoing IFAD-funded SNRLP, with the exception of the Red Sea state. Activity 2.1(b): Activities to be implemented by FAO. Underthis sub-component, the FAO will implement the same activities (i) through (v) in above paragraph, but in the Red Sea state only.As mentioned above, as the MOAF does not have an IFAD-funded presence in the Red Sea state to leverage the ongoing activities andinstitutional systems, the MoAF will enter into an output-based agreement with FAO, entrusting it with the responsibility for theimplementation of the activities detailed under sub-component 2.1(a) in the Red Sea state. The FAO is already working in the RedSea state in partnership with several state-level ministries on activities similar to those envisaged under this sub-component andwould therefore be well positioned to hit the ground running. Sub-component 2.2. Support to Agricultural Infrastructure,Natural Resource Management and Income. This sub-component will build climate resilience by providing income support, in the formof cash-for-work (CfW) to poor, vulnerable households to meet their urgent food needs and smooth consumption gaps, build/protecttheir assets or receive training that focuses on creating opportunities and strengthening community resilience, create jobs andimprove livelihoods/enhance incomes. Interventions under the sub-component will also contribute to climate mitigation throughreduction in food loss and waste in agriculture and food value chains. IDPs, returnees, refugees and host communities, includingyouth-at-risk, who are primarily landless, as well as women-run households, will particularly benefit under this activity. Thesub-component will scale up and build upon the existing, successful CfW program currently being implemented by WFP in Sudan. TheMOAF will enter into an output based agreement with WFP for the implementation of this sub-component which will rely on thestructures and mechanisms already put in place by the UN agency. Component 3: Project Management, Coordination, Monitoring andEvaluation and Capacity Building. 57. The Project will finance costs associated with project management and implementation support,including financial management, procurement, M&E, coordination with participating UN agencies, monitoring of project environmentaland soci