In this issue:
From the Director: Strengthened Links with Financing Institutions
Viet Nam: Rural Infrastructure Project Financed by Asian Development Bank
Guinée: Synergie et collaboration dans la lutte contre l’insécurité alimentaire
Argentina: Manejo de recursos naturales y alivio de la pobreza rural
Strengthened Links with Financing Institutions
October 23, 1997 marked an important date for the Investment Centre’s work in Eastern European and CIS countries, with the signing in London by FAO’s Director-General and the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development of a new FAO/EBRD Framework Agreement. The Investment Centre has already helped member countries to design projects to develop fresh produce wholesale markets for farmers, traders and consumers in Armenia, Georgia and Croatia: the first two projects have already been financed and approval of the third is expected by the end of this year. With the recent doubling of the Bank’s capital, the new agreement will simplify and facilitate the Centre’s work of helping countries in the region to identify and prepare investment projects in the agriculture-related sector for EBRD financing.
In October working relationships with the Investment Centre’s oldest partner financing institution, the World Bank, were reinforced by a visit by Bank staff to Rome to brief our staff on new Bank approaches to project processing and documentation. The Bank’s emphasis on greater clarity in defining objectives of assistance, on the development of monitorable indicators and on project implementablity respond well to concerns which we share. The extended briefing was of special relevance since the Investment Centre helps countries to prepare more than a third of World Bank-financed agriculture projects.
Also in October, the Investment Centre was host to a workshop attended by senior staff of the InterAmerican Development Bank and other FAO Divisions as well as IFAD. The exchange of ideas on agricultural investment in the Latin American and Caribbean region is expected to lead to an expansion of our work with IDB in 1998.
David Forbes Watt
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Thirty Years Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean
Since 1964 the FAO Investment Centre has played a major role in the formulation of more than 180 projects in Latin American and Caribbean countries, attracting investments totalling US$13 billion. External loans for these projects, amounting to US$6.8 billion, have been committed by the World Bank/IDA, IFAD, IDB, the Caribbean Development Bank, CAF, CABEI and UNCDF, as well as by GEF and bilateral agencies. During project formulation the Centre has worked closely with national experts, so contributing in the process to training local teams and strengthening the project preparation capacity of government institutions.
Recent Investment Centre work in the Region has been marked by increasing reliance on local preparation groups and the use of innovative and flexible project preparation procedures and lending instruments. At the same time there has been a sharpening of focus on poverty alleviation, food security, natural resources management, environmental conservation and creation of an enabling environment for private sector development. In assisting countries to further these aims, the Centre’s project preparation work has shifted its approach so as to increase the involvement of potential beneficiaries in problem
identification, project design and implementation.This not only improves ‘project ownership’, but also ensures that development interventions aimed at poverty reduction are better tailored to the expressed needs of the rural poor.In many countries this has led in the adoption of targeted interventions aimed at improving small farmer income through the development of micro-enterprises and social infrastructure; cost-effective natural resources management programmes in impoverished areas aimed at raising productivity through better soil and water management; and special programmes to enhance the ability of indigenous communities to compete in open markets without losing their cultural identity. The aim has also been to transfer the burden of support service costs from governments to users through promoting the use of private-sector service providers, and to make research and extension more demand-driven and user-responsive, while still ensuring that assistance is available to disadvantaged groups. The Investment Centre is promoting this approach with the World Bank in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Jamaica and Mexico, with the IDB in Haiti, with the CDB in Guyana and with RUTA III in Guatemala.
Work on natural resources management in the region has involved mainly water, forestry and protected areas. Since irrigation cannot be treated in isolation from the rest of the water sector, the Centre is focusing increasing attention on the development of comprehensive policies and institutional frameworks for water resources management, at the same time giving greater consideration to social and environmental issues. An essential feature, exemplified by work with the World Bank in Chile and Peru, is to provide for the participation of stakeholders in project formulation and to promote water markets as mechanisms for the efficient allocation of water resources between competing users.
In forestry and protected areas management, the Investment Centre has undertaken a substantial work programme with the World Bank in Argentina, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Trinidad and Tobago. Again, success has depended on ensuring that a sound policy framework and responsive decentralised institutional structure is in place. The challenge has been to combine national development goals with the need to manage forests sustainably, conserve biodiversity, protect the interests of local communities and provide for the special needs of indigenous peoples. Project formulation has become more process-oriented and participative, with workshops being used to incorporate local opinion. As a result, a new breed of forestry and protected areas projects is emerging which emphasises flexibility. The aim is not only to improve the management of forests and protected areas, but also to address the underlying social, political and institutional issues confronting sustainable development. An interesting new feature of the Centre’s work in the region has been the key role which it played in obtaining substantial GEF funding for conservation work in Argentina. (See below)
Paolo Lucani, FAO IC
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VIET NAM: Rural Infrastructure Project Financed by Asian
Development Bank
Despite rapid economic growth, poverty remains widespread in Viet Nam, especially in rural areas. Recent studies have shown that the lack of rural infrastructure is one of the major factors constraining rural development. A poor rural road network limits farmers’ access to markets and services and discourages private investment in agricultural as well as non-agricultural activities; lack of irrigation and drainage lowers the productivity of land and labour; and insufficient and unsafe drinking water contributes to disease and poor health. The Government of Viet Nam has an ambitious programme for the development of rural infrastructure and its targets for 2000 include: linking all districts and communes with all-weather motorable roads; increasing the irrigated area by 840,000 ha; and providing safe and adequate drinking water to 80% of the rural population.
In 1996, under cost-sharing arrangements with the Asian Development Bank, the Investment Centre was invited by Government to help the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) prepare an investment project for rural infrastructure development. In September a joint team visited many of the poorest provinces of Viet Nam and assessed their needs for rural infrastructure as well as their ability to plan, build and maintain infrastructure facilities. Based on its field visits and discussions, and in close consultation with ADB and MARD staff, the team proposed a US$150 million project to finance the improvement of rural roads, irrigation and drainage facilities, drinking water schemes and rural markets in 19 of the country’s poorest provinces. Over a six year period about 60 subprojects, covering different provinces and subsectors, would be approved and implemented. To demonstrate how subprojects should be prepared and to facilitate speedy project start-up, the Investment Centre team, working with Government staff and local institutions, prepared about 10 subprojects.
The project proposals were discussed at a workshop held in June 1997 in Hanoi attended by provincial and central level institutions, the ADB and the Caisse française de développement (CFD). In October 1997 the ADB Board approved a loan of US$105 million in support of the project. CFD would provide a further US$15 million, and the remainder would be financed by the provincial governments and beneficiaries. The ADB also approved a grant of US$1 million to finance a major training programme for central and provincial staff in subproject preparation, implementation and monitoring.
Contact: Daud Khan ([email protected])
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GUINEE: Synergie
et collaboration dans la lutte contre l’insécurité alimentaire
Malgré un climat et une topographie favorables la République de Guinée reste encore largement dépendante des importations pour son alimentation: près de 40 % de la consommation totale en riz est importé. Depuis de nombreuses années déjà, le gouvernement guinéen a fixé la lutte contre l’insécurité alimentaire parmi ses plus hautes priorités. C’est ainsi que début 1995 il lançait avec l’appui technique et financier de la FAO un Programme spécial de sécurité alimentaire (PSSA) visant à promouvoir un niveau d’équilibre optimal entre la production vivrière et les importations et à réduire les risques de variations perturbatrices des approvisionnements.
En février 1997 et en accord avec la Banque mondiale et la FAO, le PSSA a vu son exécution renforcée par la décision commune des Ministre de l’Agriculture, des eaux et forêts et Ministre de la Pêche et de l’élevage, d’initier un programme de collaboration entre le Projet national des services agricoles (PNSA) financé par la Banque mondiale (crédit IDA) et le PSSA. Cette décision a constitué le dénouement d’un processus de réflexion mené au niveau des services techniques nationaux avec l’appui du Centre d’investissement.
C’est ainsi que les synergie et complémentarité existantes entre le PSSA et le PNSA ont été identifiées et analysées. Un programme de collaboration assorti d’une série d’actions communes et convergentes a été préparé, approuvé et est maintenant en cours d’exécution. Le programme de collaboration ainsi mis en place vise à faciliter l’exécution du PSSA en s’appuyant sur les convergences d’approche et d’objectifs existants entre le PSSA le PNSA. Son financement est assuré par la prise en charge directe sur le financement IDA et l’exécution par les services et directions concernés d’un certain nombre d’activités initialement prévues dans le cadre du PSSA. L’approche ainsi adoptée vise notamment à renforcer, au sein d’une même zone de production, une intervention structurée selon une séquence correspondante à un programme d’aménagement et de mise en valeur, de différents services et opérateurs techniques spécialisés en fonction des desiderata des producteurs et du calendrier agricole. Cette approche basée sur les synergie et complémentarité entre deux initiatives originellement indé-pendantes a été considérée par la Banque mondiale comme suffisamment novatrice pour que sa diffusion soit envisagée dans d’autres pays africains bénéficiaires du Programme spécial.
Contact: Marc Moens ([email protected])
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La gran diversidad regional de Argentina genera un apoyo múltiple y continuo del Centro de Inversiones a ese país. Modernización institucional nacional y provincial, Gestión de los recursos hídricos, Alivio de la pobreza rural y Manejo sustentable de los recursos naturales son los temas más significativos. Los Proyectos preparados con asistencia del Centro de Inversiones, desde 1990, representan inversiones por US$ 500 millones. Los Proyectos cuya ejecución está iniciandose, permitirán recuperar el atraso relativo del país en inversiones que beneficien a los pobres rurales y mejoren el manejo de los recursos naturales. Cada uno de estos proyectos, señalados a continuación, ha sido concebido y preparado conjuntamente con los responsables políticos, los operadores y los beneficiarios.
El Proyecto de Desarrollo Forestal (costo total de US$26.2 millones, con US$16 millones proveniente del Banco Mundial) contribuirá a: i) un crecimiento eficiente y sustentable de las plantaciones forestales y de la industria procesadora de madera; ii) aliviar la pobreza rural y iii) desarrollar una estrategia consensuada para revertir la erosión del suelo en Patagonia. Los componentes incluyen el fortalecimiento institucional; mejorar el marco legal regulador de las plantaciones e industrias madereras; la generación y difusión de la investigación y el apoyo técnico y financiero a pequeños productores aledaños a los bosques nativos más importantes, para reducir la presión sobre el recurso forestal.
El Proyecto de Bosques Nativos y Areas Protegidas, junto con el Proyecto de Conservación de la Biodiversidad tienen un costo total de US$ 42 millones, con US$19.5 millones provenientes del Banco Mundial y US$10 millones del FMMA. El primero contribuirá a: i) establecer un marco regulador e incentivos para que las acciones públicas y privadas no afecten negativamente los bosques nativos; ii) desarrollar un plan para transformar la Administración de Parques Nacionales en una organización de nivel mundial y iii) aumentar los niveles de sustentabilidad ambiental en cuatro turísticos parques nacionales: Lanín, Nahuel Huapi, Los Alerces y Los Glaciares. El segundo expandirá y diversificará las áreas protegidas nacionales, creando las condiciones para una administración sustentable mediante el fortalecimiento institucional, el establecimiento de mecanismos de consulta y la participación y mejora del manejo de la información. Se crearán cinco nuevas áreas protegidas (parques nacionales) de alto valor biológico y ecológico: a) Los Venados (Pampa), b) San Guillermo (Puna), c) Copo (Chaco semiárido), d) Condorito (Sierras de Cordoba) y e) Monte León (Costa Patagónica).
El Programa de Alivio de Pobreza e Iniciativas Rurales tiene por objetivo aumentar la capacidad productiva y organizativa de comunidades rurales pobres mediante el mejoramiento de la infraestructura productiva, aumento de la producción de autoconsumo, diversificación productiva, incorporación de valor agregado y capacitación e integración asociativa de los productores. Adicionalmente, contempla la creación, a nivel nacional y provincial, de Unidades Técnicas generadoras de políticas para los productores minifundistas así como la introducción de mecanismos de coordinación entre la Nación y las Provincias para la operación de los diferentes programas sectoriales dirigidos a esos grupos de población. Se espera atender 30.000 familias. El costo total alcanza a US$108 millones, de los cuales US$96 millones corresponden a un Fondo de Inversiones Rurales y el resto al Fortalecimiento de las capacidades institucionales, el Seguimiento y Evaluación y la Administración del proyecto.
Contact Random DuBois or Selim Mohor ([email protected] / [email protected])
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Briefly noted . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
During the period July-October 1997 the Investment Centre carried out 129 missions to 103 countries.
AFRICA
A small-scale dairy programme was identified in Swaziland (Government).
The Investment Centre assisted in preparing a livestock development programme in Ethiopia
and forestry and agricultural projects in Gabon, and updated proposals for a rural
development project in Benin for AfDB. It helped prepare projects for irrigation in Malawi
and rural development in Mauritius for IFAD and for forestry and wildlife in Eritrea
(TCP); it also helped prepare the introduction of IPM in Côte d'Ivoire, and carried out
sectoral investment studies in Burkina Faso and Mozambique, for the WB. The Centre
participated in appraisal of projects for crop production in Ghana for AfDB and rural
development in Uganda for IFAD. It assisted in the evaluation or supervision of projects
for the WB in Tanzania, Ghana, Niger and Senegal; for the AfDB in Tanzania; for TCP in
Ghana and Eritrea, and for UNCDF in Mauritania. The Centre also initiated or continued
formulation for food security programmes in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Côte
d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland under
FAO's Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS).
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Exploratory/identification missions were undertaken for food security
programmes in PDR Korea, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and PDR Lao (SPFS). The Centre
started identification of projects for tree crops development in Viet Nam (AsDB) and
preparation for poverty reduction in China, irrigation in India and Viet Nam (WB),
environment in India (FAO) and shifting cultivation in PDR Lao (AsDB). It contributed to
the appraisal of agricultural technology and rural development projects in India,
extension in Indonesia, rural development and forestry in China (WB), a rural income
generation project in Indonesia (AsDB), and rural development in PDR Lao and Bhutan (WFP).
It also assisted in supervision or evaluation of WB projects in Bangladesh, Lao and
Thailand, evaluated a regional project for UNDP, and initiated preparation of an FAO-led
Agriculture Sector Review mission to PDR Korea.
LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
The Centre identified a private sector forestry project in Nicaragua
(WB). It initiated formulation of an artisanal fisheries project in Colombia and a rural
development project in Dominican Republic for IFAD, and continued preparation of
projects for a land fund in Guatemala, agricultural credit in Mexico, irrigation in Brazil
and Peru, rural investment in Bolivia, land administration in Panama (WB), and rural
development in Chile (TCP). It initiated the local formulation of food security projects
in Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua (SPFS); supervised and evaluated
WB projects in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico,
Uruguay and Venezuela; and helped to appraise WB projects for poverty alleviation in
Argentina and irrigation in Brazil.
NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Project formulation started and continued for agricultural credit in
Azerbaijan, agricultural exports development in Jordan, forestry in Morocco, irrigation in
Kyrgyzstan (WB), rural development in Djibouti (IFAD), and for food security in
Azerbaijan, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Syria and Yemen (SPSF). The Centre helped supervise
projects in Sudan (AfDB) and Tunisia (WB).
EUROPE
The Centre assisted in the identification of irrigation development in Slovenia, farm restructuring in Turkmenistan (WB), and food security in Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Turkmenistan (SPFS). It assisted in preparation of rural development in Estonia, land registration in Romania and irrigation in Moldova (WB). Assistance continued in preparation of wholesale food markets in Croatia (EBRD). The Centre participated in evaluation or supervision of WB projects in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina and Portugal; assessed forest resources in Turkey, updated information on the agricultural sector in Bosnia Herzegovina (WB), assisted forestry investment planning in Romania (TCP) and appraised irrigation restructuring in FYR Macedonia (WB).
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In July-October 1997, 7 projects formulated with substantial inputs from the Investment Centre were approved by financing institutions and governments for total investments of US$ 444.42m (the balance between the total project cost and loan amount is provided by the recipient government and beneficiaries): ARGENTINA: Biodiversity Conservation US$21.9 m (US$10.1 m GEF, US$0.3m GEF-PDF); BRAZIL: Land Management III Sao Paulo: US$124.7 m (US$55 m WB); BRAZIL: Bahia Water Resources US$85 m (US$51 m WB); NEPAL: Poverty Alleviation in Western Terai US$9.73 m (US$8.87 m IFAD, US$0.08 m Agricultural Dev. Bank of Nepal); NEPAL: Agricultural Research and Extension US$30.5 m (US$24.3 m IDA); PAKISTAN: Northern Areas Development 22.59 m (US$14.63 m IFAD, US$2.56 m UNDP); VIET NAM: Rural Infrastructure Sector US$150 m (US$105 m AsDB, US$15 m Caisse française de développement). Two projects approved for financing by IFAD in 1996 were co-financed by IDA: EGYPT East Delta Newlands Agricultural Services US$15 m, and TOGO National Agricultural Services Support US$19.2 m.
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UPDATE, published three times a year, is the newsletter of FAO's Investment Centre. Queries on subjects covered may be addressed to: The Editor, UPDATE, Investment Centre Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy; tel: +39 06-5705-3568; fax: +39 06-5705-4657; e-mail: [email protected].