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Farms Project

Overview
The government of Tajikistan has identified agricultural reform as a key strategy for poverty reduction. Providing assistance to the rural population in understanding and capitalizing on these reforms is essential to ensuring that Tajikistan's transition towards a market economy creates sustainable livelihood opportunities for everyone and promotes social cohesion, equity and peace.

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Focus
The FARMS project will focus on:

• Improving economic performance of newly emerging farm enterprises and their voluntary associations in the northern Sugd oblast
• Will support rural women and men in understanding and exercising their legal rights and obligations as independent farmers.
  

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Goal
The goal of the project is:
Assist the transition to a market economy in rural Tajikistan by supporting access to adequate and transparent agricultural procurement and marketing systems (inputs, outputs, land, labour and capital) and introducing new knowledge and technologies.

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Impacts
The project's long term impacts are:

• - Sustained broad based economic growth and improved livelihoods for rural households
• Equitable benefits to male and female household members
• By improving economic performance (from cotton and from diversification to high value crops)
• Good governance and policy influence in agricultural reform of independent Dehjan Farms and their associations
  

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Clients
The primary beneficiaries of the project are members/owners of independent Dekhan farms of varied sizes and status.

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Activities and Output
Dekhan Farms management training program

• Improved management capacity of independent Dekhan Farms including business planning and financial management, input procurement and marketing.

Adoption of new technologies and production systems

• Adoption of market-responsive, higher efficiency and gender-sensitive technologies, irrigation and production systems for cotton, and other high value cash crops by Dehkan farms.
  

Voluntary Dehkan Farm associations management development

• Efficient organisation of shared services for extension, irrigation, procurement of inputs, equipment, and marketing through voluntary Dehkan farms associations.

Legal awareness and governance structure improvement

• Enchanced gender-sensitive and participatory management, transparency, legal awareness and accountability, within the governance structure of Dehkan Farms, and their voluntary associations
• Increased advocacy and negotiation skills
• -Members and leaders better exercise their legal rights. Enhanced capacities of some local implementing partners

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Service Delivery

Based on more than 45 years of development cooperation in Africa and the Americas, 15 years in Asia and 5 years in the Eastern Europe, CECI will transfer its extensive experience in community economic development through market-responsive and small-farm enterprise development, to local partners in Tajikistan. To complement its in-house expertise, Canadian/international partner agencies will be involved in the project to provide specialized technical assistance services in cotton crop production and management, horticultural production and horticultural produces marketing.
The project has identified two lead local Sugh-based implementing partners:

• Agency Support Development Process Nau for the provision of training services;
• IFC supported SugdAgroServe company for the sharing of training material and cotton crop management and to cooperate in the demonstration of improved technologies and advocacy for policy reform.
• Other NGO's with specific experience in gender approaches as well as organisations active in legal awareness and farmer advocacy.
  

Factors of sustainability for the result of the projects:

• Enhanced economic viability of Dehkan Farms
• Availability of sustainable services to farmers through second tier associations
• Secured access to credit sources through existing institutions
• Creation of networks for policy reforms
• Capacity-building and linkages with local partners that will be favorably positioned to support project clients beyond its completion.
  

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Budget
The total budget of the project is Can. $ 5,085,000 for five years. The budget from CIDA is Can $4.5 million. CECI and other partners will provide a global contribution of Can. $585,000.