Rainfed Agriculture and Livestock Project

The project will help reduce rural poverty and improve natural resource management in five of the most disadvantaged areas of the governorates of Al-Mahweet, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Lahej and Sana'a. Rapid population growth is causing increased pressure on natural resources in these areas where the local economy is predominantly based on rainfed agriculture and livestock. The objectives of the project are to:

• upgrade and diversify production while reversing rapidly increasing resource degradation, by fostering participatory management of natural resources
• assist small farmers, herders, landless people and women who are heads of households by helping them strengthen their processing and marketing systems, protect assets such as soil, water, rangelands, seeds and animals, and increase off-farm household income
• help introduce microfinance services and promote the development of new microenterprises, income-earning activities, access to markets and partnerships with the private sector

Through activities in 23 targeted districts, the project supports efforts to make soil conservation and water harvesting more effective in the uplands. The project, which is initiated and cofinanced by the International Development Association (IDA), will empower poor rural communities to participate in and benefit from community-based development planning and implementation. Through capacity-building and support for the formation of rural producers’ groups and committees, the project will help poor rural people improve their access to public and private services and to input and output markets.
The project is one of the priorities of the government’s public investment programme under the Third Socio-economic Development Plan for Poverty Reduction 2006-2010. It introduces a major innovation in rural development in Yemen: the financing and implementation of rural productive activities and infrastructure through the Social Fund for Development. This gives the Social Fund an opportunity to become a pioneering force in reducing rural poverty in the country.

Source: IFAD