Post-COVID Food and Nutrition Security Enhancement Project.

The major challenges in the project areas are irregular rainfall, making ecosystems vulnerable and compounding the food deficit due to lack of water in the previously arable shallows, but also the low mobilization of hydro geological resources to foster farming and livestock production activities. Through its action, education development foundation contributed to further securing pastoral animal production systems (short-cyclespecies) and farming (rice and horticulture), through the fight against bush fires, facilitation of access to water, inputs, land, equipment, improved housing and better observance of farming techniques. In that regard, many facilities were built, capacity building activities held and various support provided, which
induced positive impact on water access and the adoption of good farming practices. Despite these various achievements by EDF efforts are still to be made to better consolidate them in the project area,replicate them in new sites with a high potential to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural productivity.This is the purpose of the project proposal by EDF that perfectly fits into the objectives of the
National Agricultural Investment and Food and Nutrition Security Program The Program notably aims a securing the productive base and fighting against soil degradation. It addresses the strategic guidelines contained in the country’s various policies and sector development plans, notably the Fast-track and
Adjusted Priority Action Plan in its agriculture component that gives pride of place to the development of rice farming and horticulture. Thus, its implementation is a priority owing to its positive impact on economic growth, rural job creation, sustainable food and nutrition security for the poor,
improved income for value chain stakeholders and rural entrepreneurship development. The project’s intervention strategy will be mainly based on “faire-faire” (delegation of tasks).Project components and activities
The project submitted by EDF has 3 major components, namely i) build sustainable hydro-agricultural and pastoral infrastructure, ii) support development and capacity building and iii) project coordination.The project’s priority targets will be local small farmers and rearers (youths and women, people with disability) living in the project’s 5 intervention regions. Emphasis will also be laid on the most vulnerable groups, including women, youths and the elderly.Overall, nearly 40,000 farmers and rearers will be directly impacted by the project, including over 24,000 women (60% of project target) and about 12,000 youths (30% of the project target). These youths
and women will benefit from facilities in the valleys, farms, anti-salt sites and horticulture plots. They will also settle in modern farms with agricultural boreholes enabling diversified production activities all year long.
About 15,000 cattle breeders in the postdoctoral zone will be organized and supported in the pastoral units,with spawners and modern cattle farms, to be created. Boreholes will be used as a platform to push local development.The project beneficiaries will not only be farmers’families directly impacted by the activities promoted to boost production, but also communities in
neighboring villages whose living conditions will improve better availability of food, the construction of connectivity roads and the multiplication of water points. An estimated total of 450,000 will
benefit from the impacts of the project.

The objective is to contribute to enhancing food security and increase small farmer income. Specifically, this means (i) improving the income and building the food and nutrition security of small farmers, through water management, increased productivity sustainable development of plant and animal productions, (ii) provide private sector development opportunities, in line with investment plans to support national efforts for medium and long term response to COVID-19 and resilience to climate change.

Overall, nearly 40,000 farmers and rearers will be directly impacted by the project, including over 24,000 women (60% of project target) and about 12,000 youths (30% of the project target). These youths and women will benefit from facilities in the valleys, farms, anti-salt sites and horticulture plots. They will also settle in modern farms with agricultural boreholes enabling diversified production activities all year long. About 15,000 cattle breeders in the sylvopastoral zone will be organized and supported in the pastoral units, with spawners and modern cattle farms, to be created or revamped. Boreholes will be used as a platform to push local development. Partnership will be developed with the Laiteriedu Berger, who will support the professionalization of the management of dairy farms. The project beneficiaries will not only be farmers’ families directly impacted by the activities promoted to boost production, but also communities in neighboring villages whose living conditions will improve thanks to better availability of food, the construction of connectivity roads and the multiplication of water points. An estimated total of 450,000 will benefit from the impacts of the project.Women and youths, representing 60% and 30% of the beneficiaries respectively, were identified as the project’s priority targets, owing to their vulnerability.

Despite several assets and opportunities, efforts to develop the agricultural sector are hampered by several factors, notably (i) little control over climate factors, (ii) insufficient management of access to productive water, (iii) decreased soil fertility and deterioration of agro-systems, and (iv) low valorization of agricultural products. To support agricultural development,Tanzania technical and financial.Through these combined efforts by Senegal and its partners, the food security of rural households markedly improved thanks to increased family farm production and improved household income. However, these achievements may be compromised by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which is a real threat to productive and economic activity globally and in Senegal in particular, thus compounding the vulnerability of women, youths, the elderly and the disabled in rural areas.

The project beneficiaries will not only be farmers’families directly impacted by the activities promoted to boost production, but also communities in
neighboring villages whose living conditions will improve thanks to better availability of food, the construction of connectivity roads and the multiplication of water points. An estimated total of 450,000 will
benefit from the impacts of the project.

There are risks over the implementation of the project. Such risks are of various types: (i) climate alterations directly affecting agricultural and animal production and development, (ii) soil-related, lower fertility caused by continuous impoverishment and salinization, (iii) land-related, with risks of conflict between farmers and migrating pastoralists, (iv) time-related, delayed works caused by the low capacity of contractors and other service providers, (v) company performance, low efficiency of the monitoring and evaluation systems to reflect the impacts of the project, (vi) context-related, low level of training and organization of farmers, (vii) consumers’ pessimistic behavior, (viii) challenges in commodity marketing, (ix) volatile prices of agricultural products, etc.This risks are moderate low, since the proposed activities are quite similar to those implemented under EDF(under implementation) and lessons learnt were well capitalized in the design of the new project proposed by Tanzania