Project_6

Empowerment of Rural Communities to Increase the Productivity of Cash Crop and Vegetables by Integrated Crop Management Practices

Timeframe :

12 Months

Donors / Sponsors :

Small Grant Ambassador Funds Program – USAID

Geographical Coverage :

Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan Districts (Punjab)

Objectives and Key Interventions :

• On-farm capacity development of 2,400 small farmers in efficient integrated crop management and production approaches.
• Providing free-of-cost agri-inputs such as HYV seeds, bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides, etc. only to those farmers who pledge to enhance their agriculture produce by 50%.
• Participatory value chain development of target crops for maximizing overall profits.
• Enabling the target growers to revive the agriculture based livelihood patterns through market linkages, post harvest management and availability of agri-inputs.
• Trainings and capacity building of the target farmers so that they may be able to share these techniques with other farmers for productivity enhancement through Farmer Field Schools (FFSs), Training of Trainers (TOTs) and exposure visits.
• Produce promotional material and make effective use of media for dissemination of videos, leaflets, brochures and best cases as way forward to other farmers.
• Equal involvement of the farmers and the agriculture departments in the activities with the aims to adopt the range of innovative techniques for sustainable agriculture productivity enhancement.

Project Beneficiaries :

480 households comprising 2,400 farmers (200 men, 200 women, 40 boys, 40 girls) of flood affected areas of District Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan will be the main direct beneficiaries. However, these farmers will be empowered to share these integrated productivity enhancement techniques with other approximately 2,000 farmers. The selection criteria will be based upon association with farming, vulnerability to recurring floods and interest for in‐kind contribution.