Objectives

Promote sustainable food systems that are deforestation-free and support the conservation of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services, with a focus on rice and coffee in landscapes of the Central-South and Eastern coast of Madagascar

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The project will help deliver the following global socio-economic benefits: GEF 7 Core Indicator Target Expected contribution of the GEF project Direct beneficiaries (disaggregated by gender) benefit of GEF investments. 80,000 members (50% women and 50% men) of rural communities in the target landscapes (disaggregated by gender) directly benefitting of project interventions. ? 5,000 coffee producers trained and equipped with sustainable shade coffee intercropping technologies and inputs. ? 25,000 rice/legume producers trained and equipped with SRI/SRA/CA technologies and inputs. ? 280 public and private extension providers in the target landscapes trained to provide continuous training and technical support to farm and forest producers and producer organizations, cooperatives and SME.The project will support all trained trainers in the search for mechanisms enhancing the economic sustainability and institutionalization of their services beyond the life of the project, such as the creation of cooperatives or associations of training providers (in this case in the private sector) whose work can be covered by small fees of FFS/FBS/FFBI participants. ? 300 staff of community-based nurseries and seedbanks trained and equipped to produce high-quality seeds, seedlings and cuttings. The project will provide a business-oriented nursery/seedbank development approach, so that small local businesses become economically sustainable through the commercialization of the plants and the planting services. ? 70 coffee production, processing and marketing organizations, cooperatives and SME (involving around 3,500 members) are trained and equipped to operate as social/environmental responsible business, increase the quantity and quality of their products, and access domestic and international ethical/organic markets. ? 32 community-based COBA/RAG organizations (involving around 1,600 users) active in firewood/NTFP production, harvesting and marketing are trained and equipped to operate as social/environmental responsible business, increase the quantity and quality of their products, and access domestic and international ethical/organic markets. ? The staff of the FOFIFA Kianjavato Research Centre are trained and equipped to improve the conservation and management of genetic resources of wild/commercialized Coffea species and varieties and other targeted agriculture crop species and varieties, and increase the production of seeds and seedlings accessible to PA managers, decentralized forest services, COBA, RAG and forest and farm producers in the target landscapes. ? Two PhD students will develop research to improve knowledge about the conservation status and genetic diversity of wild Coffea species with the objective to improve conservation/restoration of natural habitats and develop climate-adaptive, and economically beneficial commercial hybrids. ? Around 600 VC actors (cooperatives, equipment/input suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, exporters, end-market buyers) have increased their knowledge about VC functioning, actors and linkages, their commercial collaborations, and access to ethic/green certification market segments. ? Around 60,000 people will benefit from the policy development and resposnsible tenure governance improvements leading to SNRM, BD conservation, forest/land restoration, and SVC development. The Global socio-economic benefits are based following on the following considerations: ? Forest restoration and adaptive forest management: It is estimated that during the project lifetime the members of the 32 COBAs and RAGs (about 1,600 members in total) with management transfer rights in designated forest areas in/around protected areas in the target landscapes will benefit of continuous ER and FFBI learning and technical support, and procurement investments, resulting in 5,000 ha of restored natural forests, and 5,000 ha of restored agroforestry systems under responsible tenure governance. The forest users that throughout the process have acquired a greater organizational capacity and have sustainably intensified production of the project's target commodities (e.g. firewood/charcoal, bee products, wild silk, basketry, and other prioritized NTFP during project implementation), will be supported to improve their organizational and social/environmental responsible business capacity to intensify/diversify the production of high-quality products, to enhance access to ethical/green certification market segments, and develop contract farming agreements with domestic and international buyer companies operating in these markets and the eco-tourism sector. The project will target women and men in equal proportion of 50 percent. ? Sustainable intensification of coffee agroforestry and diversified rice production systems: It is estimated that during the project lifetime approx. 35,000 women and men smallholder farmers and forest users will directly and indirectly benefit of continuous FFS/FBS/FFBI learning and coaching, and procurement investments in the target landscapes, resulting in 5,000 ha of sustainably intensified shade coffee intercropping plantations, 20,000 ha of sustainably intensified rice/legume diversified production systems under SRI/SRA/CA, and 10,000 of degraded forest and agroforestry land restored. The project will enhance the organizational and business development (with social/environmental corporate responsibility) capacity of the targeted coffee and rice producer organizations, cooperatives and SME, so that they can access to ethical/green certification market segments, and develop contract farming agreements with domestic and international buyer companies operating in these markets. The project will target women and men in equal proportion of 50 percent. ? Increased skills and knowhow on ER/SLM/SFM/GVC: Approximately 35,000 community members will have acquired good knowledge and skills on ER/SLM/SFM/GVC. About 280 extension providers from the public deconcentrated agriculture/forest technical services, NGOs, COBA/RAG, private organizations and women/men lead farmers and forest users will be qualified as lead trainers and facilitators on ER/SLM/SFM/GVC development, therefore increasing their employment opportunities during project implementation and beyond. ? Micro, small and medium enterprise development around ethic/green VC commodities: The project will support approximately 5,000 farm and forest producers to become members of environmentally sound, social beneficial and economically viable POs, cooperatives and/or SME, through training, technical and financial support to operate according to ethical employment standards and healthy/quality/certification standards, and to adopt innovative production/processing/marketing technologies that allow an increase and diversification of high quality production complying with national/international certification standards. Local businesses around GVC commodities will include: (i) community nurseries and seedbanks for the production and marketing of high-quality plant material (seeds, seedlings and cuttings) and the provision of services to customers on the use of plant material in ER/SLM/SFM implementation; (ii) COBA/RAG community organizations for the production and marketing of firewood/charcoal and NTFPs (ecotourism); (iii) POs, cooperatives and SME for the production and marketing of high-quality products from coffee, fruits, rice, legumes, and other complementary crops. The project will target a minimum of 1/3 of women among beneficiaries. ? In terms of access to international market segments around ethic/organic certification, the project PPP contract farming agreements between landscape coffee producers and processors and international buyers (mainly SFCC members involved in ethic/green/specialty coffee products) will help increase the country’s current coffee export records by 10 % by project’s closure (from around 2 300 MT as average over the last 5 years[1] to about 2 500 MT in Y5). In the same way, no less than 30% of supplies originating from the project and traded on the domestic market will carry, by project’s end (Y5), a certification logo that producers will obtain after compliance with the introduced Participatory Guarantee Schemes’ (PGS) practices/dictates. ? At least 50% of targeted farmers and forest users will double their income by the end of the project, thanks to the sustainable intensification and production diversification interventions. ? Adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers and forest users: The project will enhance the adaptive capacity of women and men smallholder farmers and forest users, addressing the gender-specific adaptation needs. The project will enhance farmer’s resilience and adaptation capacity in the following way: (i) reduce the impact of climate shocks on smallholder farmers through the promotion of infrastructures, equipment and management practices that help compensate the effect of drought and flood events through improved soil water conservation (SRI/SRA/CA and agroforestry management systems; water harvesting/storage infrastructures/equipment, less water demanding crop varieties); (ii) diversify livelihoods (food and economic security) with reduced risk of total production loss due to extreme climate events, involving the sustainable intensification of shade coffee intercropping (mix production of coffee, fruits, tuber roots and vegetables) and the diversification of rice/legume farm intercropping/rotation and tree-crop-livestock systems (e.g. rice, legumes, fruits, small livestock, home gardens); (iii) increase the capacity of producer organizations to preserve and process their products reducing their perishability increasing their capacity to negotiate in the market over a longer period of time without depending on the seasonality of the raw product; (iv) increase the capacity to produce high quality ethic/green products with greater potential to access new and more stable growing market segments (e.g. organic and fair trade) and increase revenue that allow smallholder farmers to cover needs in times of shocks. Target 1.B in MDG 1 (“Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”) highlights the central role of employment and decent work in achieving food security and poverty reduction, therefore allowing women and men in rural communities to have access to the knowledge and resources necessary to produce sustainably and thereby contributing to the SDG target 15.3 on LDN and to AFR100 (National FLR Strategy). The project formulation has followed the Guidance on How to Address Decent Rural Employment Concerns in FAO Country Activities to make sure that decent rural employment is promoted in the project outcomes and outputs: Table. The Four Pillars of Decent Rural Employment (DRE) in the project Pillar 1: Employment creation and enterprise development ? Component 1will address explicitly policies, regulations and bylaws supporting zero-deforestation and BD conservation in the implementation of ER/SLM/SFM/GVC development. ? The training-of-trainers (ToT) under Outcome 2.1 and Outcome 3.1 will increase the professionalization of members of practitioners on ER/SLM/SFM/ethic & green VC related-jobs. ? The FFS/FBS/FFBI learning programmes under Outcomes 2.1 and 3.1 will provide vocational and education training for rural women and men on technical and business skills, which will increase their chances of finding jobs and establishing small local enterprises. ? Outcomes 2.1 and 3.1 will build the capacity of women and men small-holder producers in accessing markets and become active in ethic/green VC and certification market segments. ? Component 4 will develop national and sub-national capacities to collect and analyze age and sex disaggregated data on rural labour linked to ILMP interventions. Pillar 2: Social protection ? Learning programmes under Outcome 2.1 and Outcome 3.1 will train practitioners on occupational safety and health measures for the rural workforce applying ER/SLM/SFM/GVC technologies. ? Producer organizations, enterprises and buyer companies supported by PPP inclusive agribusiness agreements and VC platforms under Component 3 will enhance their social corporate responsibility. ? Procurement investments in each district will include social support for emergency or distress situations, targeting community needs beyond the ER/SLM/SFM/GVC priorities. The provision of this support indirectly delivers ER/SLM/SFM/GVC because it helps remove social barriers that may prevent community members to invest in and apply responsible tenure governance of SNRM. Pillar 3: Standards and rights at work ? Community bylaw formulation, fair access to training, extension and investments on ER/SLM/SFM/GVC technologies, infrastructure, equipment and inputs will help reduce gender and age-based discrimination in the target landscapes. ? The project will ensure compliance with the National Labour Legislation, that has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labour. the Project will collaborate with governmental inspectors, UNICEF and ILO to carry out targeted child labour inspections in the three target landscapes, with the active involvement of local leaders, and representatives from church, government, NGOs, employers’ and workers’ organizations. Pillar 4: Governance and social dialogue ? Component 1 will ensure representation of the rural poor in policy dialogue through awareness raising, training and bylaw formulation on gender-inclusive land tenure and natural resource governance issues. ? The project will ensure in Component 1 fair, and effective participation of the rural poor in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the ILMP/PIA and COBA/RAG plans. ? Components 2 and 3 will put especial focus on capacity enhancement activities for women and youth groups to empower them in ER/SLM/SFM/GVC. [1] See Table 1.3 of Section 1 of this report.