Project Update - South Sudan (JICA) and Cambodia (ADB)

South Sudan – JICA – Comprehensive Agriculture Management Plan Project – JIN Corporation

Bob Lindley in South Sudan

FoodWorks has recently successfully completed the so-called “third dispatch” for the CAMP project. We have been working on this project since August 2012 providing fisheries and livestock expertise (Robert Lindley, Jerry Turnbull and Justen Smith) to prepare a multi-sector management plan and related policies. 

The lead company was originally the International Development Centre of Japan (IDCJ) and then when the civil war forced a general retreat to Entebbe and security became a major concern the JIN Corporation took over.  

The project is on-going. We wait to see what the next steps might be for FoodWorks.

For more information contact: 

Robert Lindley 

rhlindley@foodworks.ag

Cambodia – Ministry of Economics and Finance (Asian Development Bank Loan) – Climate-resilient Rice Commercialization Support Programme - NIRAS (Denmark)

Rice paddy field in Cambodia

This $100 million program started in November 2014 and will continue for 6 years.  FoodWorks played a part in the original bid and with NIRAS and CamConsult and our consortium won against fierce competition. Unlike many loans, not only does the Ministry of Economics and Finance (MEF) administer the funds, but in this case manages the project directly. It does so through a Project Management Office under the auspices of the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC) and implements the components via separate National and Provincial Implementing Offices. The geographic focus is the major rice growing areas of Battambang, Prey Veng and Kompong Thom. 

Funded by the ADB and other four other donors "Rice-SDP" aims to (a) undertake policy reform and (b) provide infrastructure along the rice industry value chain. 

FoodWorks has taken the lead on the policy program element but is also helping with public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements (Geoff Quartermaine Bastin and Pradeep Patnaik). For policy the challenge is to take responsibility for ensuring compliance with ADB loan conditions. This includes establishing a modern regulatory environment for the rice seed industry, developing a law for the use of agricultural land, and putting in place plant protection and sanitary/phyto-sanitary (SPS) arrangements.

Related to climate change, we have a requirement to draft a National Action Plan to Combat Land Degradation. This NAP is a requirement of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification to which Cambodia is a signatory. The country is held to be one of those most at risk from climate change given that 80% of rice cultivation depends on the annual floods arising from the Ton Le Sap water body.

For PPP and the general business development aspects of the rice sector, we have a number of sub-projects to bring to private investment. These include seed farms and drying and storage facilities. We are also assisting other experts with market studies for the value chain.

For more information contact:

Geoff Quartermaine Bastin 

gqb@foodworks.ag

AFGHANISTAN - STABILISATION PROJECT SOUTH

Geoff Q-Bastin and Eddie Vernon are working on contract with the AVIPA+ project in south Afghanistan, based in Kandahar. The project is managed for USAID by the leading American 'not for profit' company International Relief and Development (IRD). IRD has a major presence in Afghanistan and is the most successful USAID NGO contractor operating in-country maintaining a presence in the volatile south of the country despite continuous threats and attacks on its personnel. The company tragically lost three of its expatriate staff in the recent air crash at the Salang Pass.

Operating in the fertile Sistan River Basin (comprising the Helmand and Arghandab Valleys), the AVIPA+ project ($300+ million - the acronym stands for Afghan Vouchers for Increased Productivity in Agriculture) is a civil-military so-called COIN (counter-insurgency) innovative effort to stabilise communities by working with farmers to support their livelihoods. The project has various components including cash-for-work (CFW - such as pruning fruit trees or cleaning irrigation canals), small grants (e.g., for tractors) and voucher packages that provide a mix of vegetable seeds, tools and fertilizers as well as distribute fruit tree saplings.

The AVIPA+ project has been hugely successful with one military commander saying that it has substantially reduced casualties. In addition it has improved farmer's incomes through increased yields; fruit tree yields increased by as much as 30%. The project will transition into a more traditional development phase over a planned 5 year period as the security situation improves.

Photo: the fertile Arghandab Valley from the air looking north; notice the irrigation channel to the right of the photo on the outskirts of Kandahar City which is fed from the Arghandab (Dahla) Dam in the uplands of the Hindu Kush. This is a massive irrigation system that provides water for one of the potentially (and historically) most productive areas of agriculture in the world.

For more personal reflections on Afghanistan, check out Geoff's travel blog on www.travelblog.org/bloggers/quartermainesworld

IRD is at www.ird.org