IARBIC launches renewed web page

IARBIC, the €5.7 million program to intensify agriculture in Niger, has launched an official web page hosted on FAO website. The new layout is designed to introduce general readers and development stakeholders at all levels to the program’s goals, approaches and activities. Started in 2008 as a collaborative effort between FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture in Niger, IARBIC has the overall objective “to contribute to improving the food security of the most vulnerable people through the intensification of food crop production”.

More specifically, this is done by setting up a network of cooperative input shops and strengthening of their managerial capacities in input provision and technical capacities in using these inputs. Between 2008 and 2013, through IARBIC 264 input shops have been created bringing the total number of such shops to 783. Furthermore, IARBIC supports farmer organizations and their federations in managing their economic activities for which a guarantee fund has been established, and in providing better quality services to their members. To advance this goal, IARBIC organized more than 375 farmer’s field schools and 750 demonstrations, reaching almost 7,500 farmers, half of them women.

This strategy led to some major achievements. On the one hand, farmers increased their demands for chemical fertilizers. On the other, since farmer organizations now place bulk orders for fertilizers, agricultural inputs are increasingly available to the right quantities and qualities. Moreover, trough lobbying and general advocacy, farmer organizations have been able to play an important role in steering the government toward more effective policies in the fertilizer industry.  

IARBIC received funding from the European Union (€3.68 million), Luxemburg (€1.19 million) and Belgium ($0.66 million). Spain has made available via FAO €150,000.