Madagascar has signed an agreement to finance the Project to Support Development in the Menabe and Melaky Regions - Phase II (AD2M-II)
The agreement was signed with the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The total cost of the project is US$56.7mn, funding for which is comprised of a US$34.4mn IFAD loan, a grant of US$6mn from the IFAD Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) Trust Fund, a contribution of US$7.7mn from the government of Madagascar and US$1.2mn from the beneficiaries.
AD2M-II aims to improve the incomes and the food security of smallholder farmers and will build on the achievements of the first phase of the project. The ASAP funding will be used to strengthen and build smallholder resilience to the effects of climate change by improving and further developing irrigated agriculture, including spate-irrigation and natural resource management approaches.
The project will also help smallholder producers organise into groups to enable them to negotiate better prices for their products. Eight new credit unions will also be established to provide financial services and credit to producers.
“Based on the positive results of the first phase, the AD2M-II will be expanded from 19 to 44 communes in seven districts and will help smallholder family farmers improve their production and marketing,” said Sana F.K. Jatta, regional director for the East and Southern Africa division at IFAD.
AD2M-II will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture. It will reach 57,000 households, among which 22,000 households are already benefiting from the first phase of the project.
