-
Document of The World Bank
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Report No: PAD718
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
ON A
PROPOSED IDA GRANT
IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 5.7 MILLION (US$ 8.72 MILLION
EQUIVALENT)
AND
PROPOSED IDA CREDIT
IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 4.7 MILLION (US$ 7.20 MILLION
EQUIVALENT)
TO THE
REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA
FOR A
COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE AND VALUE CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROJECT
February 21, 2014
Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development Unit (AFTAI)
Sustainable Development Department Country Management Unit AFCF1
Africa Region
This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by
recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its
contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank
authorization.
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CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
(Exchange Rate Effective January 31, 2014)
Currency Unit = United States Dollars DM38.1 = US$1
US$ 1.534 = SDR 1
FISCAL YEAR January 1 – December 31
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AfDB African Development Bank AIG
Agribusiness Interest Groups ANR Agriculture and Natural Resources
AWP&B Annual Work Plan and Budget BAC Business Advisory
Services CAADP Comprehensive African Agricultural Development
Program CARD Coalition for African Rice Development CBOs
Community-Based Organizations CDDP Community Demand-Driven Project
CPCU Central Projects Coordination Unit CRR Central River Region
DOA Department of Agriculture EA Engagement Agreement ESACL
Environmental and Social Assessment Check List ESMF Environmental
and Social Management Framework DPC Deputy Project Coordinator EA
Engagement Agreement EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations FASDEP Food and Agriculture
Sector Development Project FMA Financial Management Assessment FSS
Farm Support Services GAFSP Global Agriculture and Food Security
Program GCAV Gambia Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain
Management Project GAP Good Agricultural Practices GDP Gross
Domestic Product GAIMS Gambia Agricultural Information Management
System GCCI Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industries GCP Growth
and Competitiveness Project GHNP Gambia Health and Nutrition
Project GIEPA Gambian Investment and Export Promotion Agency
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GNAIP Gambia National Agricultural Investment Plan GOTG
Government of The Gambia IAs Implementing Agencies IDA
International Development Association IMF International Monetary
Fund IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute IFR Interim
Financial Report IsDB Islamic Development Bank ISM Implementation
Support Mission JAS Joint Assistance Strategy JICA Japan
International Cooperation Agency JPS Joint Partnership Strategy RDA
Regional Directorate of Agriculture LIA Local Implementation Agency
LCU Local Currency Unit MDG Millennium Development Goal MFWR
Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources MG Matching Grants MGS
Matching Grant Scheme MLRG Ministry of Lands and Regional
Governments MOA Ministry of Agriculture MOFEA Ministry of Finance
and Economic Affairs MOFEN Ministry of Forestry and Environment
MOTIE Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment MICS
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey MIS Management Information System
MTR Mid Term Review M&E Monitoring and Evaluation NaNA National
Nutrition Agency NARI National Agricultural Research Institute NBR
North Bank Region Nema (Adopted local name for the) National
Agricultural Land and Water Management
Development Program NEPAD New Partnership for African
Development NGOs Non-Governmental Organization NPC National Project
Coordinator PAGE Program for Accelerated Growth and Employment PCU
Project Coordination Unit PEIG Project Economic Interest Groups PIA
Project Implementation Agency PMP Pest Management Plan POs Producer
Organization PPIAF Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility
PRSP Poverty Reduction Paper PSC Project Steering Committee
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PTC Project Technical Committee RIA Regional Implementation
Agency RPF Resettlement Policy Framework SMEs Small and
Medium-Scale Enterprises SRI System of Rice Intensification TA
Technical Assistance UNDP United Nations Development Program WAAPP
West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program WB The World Bank WCR
West Coast Region WFP World Food Program WUA Water Users’
Association
Regional Vice President: Makhtar Diop Country Director: Vera
Songwe
Sector Director: Jamal Saghir Sector Manager: Martien van
Nieuwkoop
Task Team Leader: Kadir Osman Gyasi
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THE GAMBIA Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain Management
Project (P125024)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
I. STRATEGIC CONTEXT
.................................................................................................1 A.
Country Context
............................................................................................................
1
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
.................................................................................
2
C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project
Contributes .......................................... 4
II. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVE(S)..............................................................7 A.
Project Development Objective
....................................................................................
7
Project Beneficiaries
...........................................................................................................
7
PDO Level Results Indicators
...........................................................................................
10
III. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
............................................................................................10 A.
Project Components
....................................................................................................
10
B. Project Financing
........................................................................................................
17
Project Cost and Financing
...............................................................................................
17
C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design
................................................ 18
IV. IMPLEMENTATION
.....................................................................................................19 A.
Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
........................................................
19
B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation
............................................................................
22
C.
Sustainability...............................................................................................................
22
V. KEY RISKS AND MITIGATION MEASURES
..........................................................23 A.
Risk Ratings Summary Table
.....................................................................................
24
B. Overall Risk Rating Explanation
................................................................................
24
VI. APPRAISAL SUMMARY
..............................................................................................25 A.
Economic and Financial Analysis
..............................................................................
25
B. Technical
.....................................................................................................................
26
C. Financial Management
................................................................................................
27
D. Procurement
................................................................................................................
28
E. Social (including Safeguards)
.....................................................................................
28
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F. Environment (including Safeguards)
..........................................................................
29
Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring
.........................................................................31
Annex 2: Detailed Project Description-.
....................................................................................37
Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements
..................................................................................57
Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF)
.................................................79
Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan
....................................................................................84
Annex 6: Details of the Financial and Economic Analysis
.......................................................89
Annex 7: Details of Social and Environmental safeguards Issues
...........................................94
Annex 8: Map of Project Area
..................................................................................................101
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vi
.
PAD DATA SHEETGambia, The
Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain Management Project
(P125024) PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
.
AFRICA AFTA1
Report No.: PAD718.
Basic Information Project ID EA Category Team Leader P125024 B -
Partial Assessment Kadir Osman Gyasi Lending Instrument Fragile
and/or Capacity Constraints [ ]
Investment Project Financing Financial Intermediaries [ ]
Series of Projects [ ] Project Implementation Start Date Project
Implementation End Date March 18, 2014 30-May-2019 Expected
Effectiveness Date Expected Closing Date June 19, 2014
30-Nov-2019
Joint IFC No Sector Manager Sector Director Country Director
Regional Vice President Martien Van Nieuwkoop Jamal Saghir Vera
Songwe Makhtar Diop .
Borrower: REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA
Responsible Agency: Ministry of Agriculture
Contact: Ada Mariama Gaye Title: Permanent Secretary 1 Telephone
No.:
00-220-422-82-70 Email: [email protected]
.
Project Financing Data(in US$ Million)[ ] Loan [ ] Grant [ ]
Guarantee [ X ] Credit [ X ] IDA Grant [ ] Other Total Project
Cost: 19.27 Total Bank Financing: 15.92
Financing Gap: 0.00 .
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vii
Financing Source AmountBORROWER/RECIPIENT 3.35IDA Grant 8.72IDA
Credit 7.20Total 19.27.
Expected Disbursements (in US$ Million) Fiscal Year
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Annual 2.63 3.65 4.62 2.88 1.12 1.02 0.00
Cumulative
2.63 6.28 10.90 13.78 14.90 15.92 0.00
.
Proposed Development Objective(s) The Project Development
Objective for the Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain Management
Project (GCAV) is to improve productivity and access to market of
targeted agricultural commodities for smallholders in the Project
Area. .
Components Component Name Cost (US$US$ Millions)Component 1:
Support to development of irrigation and key productive
infrastructure
13.56
Component 2: Support to value chain management 3.18
Component 3: Project administration and institution building
2.56.
Institutional DataSector Board Agriculture and Rural Development
.
Sectors / Climate Change Sector (Maximum 5 and total percent
must equal 100)
Major Sector Sector percent Adaptation Co-benefits percent
Mitigation Co-benefits percent
Agriculture, fishing, and forestry Crops 30 Industry and trade
Agro-industry,
marketing, and trade 30
Agriculture, fishing, and forestry Agricultural extension and
research
20
Agriculture, fishing, and forestry Irrigation and drainage 20
Total 100
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viii
I certify that there is no Adaptation and Mitigation Climate
Change Co-benefits information applicable to this project. .
Themes Theme (Maximum 5 and total percent must equal 100)
Major theme Theme percent
Trade and integration Trade facilitation and market access
30
Environment and natural resources management
Water resource management 30
Rural development Other rural development 20
Rural development Rural markets 20
Total 100 .
Compliance Policy Does the project depart from the CAS in
content or in other significant respects?
Yes [ ] No [ X ]
.
Does the project require any waivers of Bank policies? Yes [ ]
No [X]
Have these been approved by Bank management? Yes [ ] No [X]
Is approval for any policy waiver sought from the Board? Yes [ ]
No [X]
Does the project meet the Regional criteria for readiness for
implementation? Yes [ X ] No [ ] .
Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No Environmental
Assessment OP/BP 4.01 X Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 X Forests OP/BP
4.36 X Pest Management OP 4.09 X Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP
4.11 X Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 X Involuntary Resettlement
OP/BP 4.12 X Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 X Projects on International
Waterways OP/BP 7.50 X Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 X
.
Legal Covenants Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency
Annual Work Plan and Budget Yes No later than Yearly
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ix
October 31 of each year
Description of Covenant The Borrower shall prepare and furnish
to the Association for its approval a proposed annual work plan and
budget containing all activities proposed to be carried out under
the Project in the following Fiscal Year. Name Recurrent Due Date
Frequency
External Auditor December 18, 2014
Description of Covenant The Borrower shall appoint, not later
than six months after the Effectiveness Date, the external auditors
for the Project, in accordance with the provisions of Section III.C
of the Financing Agreement. Name Recurrent Due Date
FrequencyRolling out of GIFMIS at CPCU August 21, 2015 Description
of Covenant The Borrower has, not later than fifteen months after
the Project Effectiveness Date, rolled out the activities of the
Gambian Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS)
within the Central Projects Coordination Unit (CPCU). Name
Recurrent Due Date FrequencyFinancial reporting Yes Not later than
45
days from the end of the quarter
Quarterly
Description of Covenant The Borrower shall prepare and furnish
to the Association not later than forty-five (45) days after the
end of each calendar quarter, interim un-audited financial reports
for the Project, in form and substance satisfactory to the Bank.
Name Recurrent Due Date FrequencyAudit reports Yes By June 30
of
each year Annually
Description of Covenant
The Audited Financial Statements for each period shall be
furnished to the Association not later than six (6) months after
the end of the project fiscal year. .
Conditions Name Type Adoption of the Project Implementation
Manual Effectiveness
Description of Condition The Recipient has prepared and adopted
a Project Implementation Manual, in form and substance satisfactory
to the Association.
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x
Name Type Confirmation of the appointment of essential Central
Projects Coordination Unit (CPCU) staff.
Effectiveness
Description of Condition
The Recipient has, for the purpose of ensuring adequate
management and fiduciary capacity, employed or appointed to the
CPCU, a project coordinator, financial management specialist,
procurement specialist, with qualifications, experience and terms
of reference acceptable to the Association.
Team CompositionBank Staff Name Title Specialization Unit
Wolfgang M. T. Chadab Senior Finance Officer Senior Finance Officer
CTRLA
Alexandra C. Sperling Legal Analyst Legal Analyst LEGAM
Soulemane Fofana Senior Rural Development Specialist
Senior Rural Development Specialist
AFTA1
Kofi-Boateng Agyen Senior Private Sector Development
Specialist
Senior Operations Officer
AFTFW
Demba Balde Senior Social Development Specialist
Senior Social Development Specialist
AFTCS
Anta Tall Diallo Program Assistant Program Assistant AFCF1
Jean-Philippe Tre Senior Agriculture Economist
Senior Agriculture Economist
AFTA1
Rose Abena Ampadu Program Assistant Program Assistant AFCW1
Maman-Sani Issa Senior Environmental Specialist
Senior Environmental Specialist
AFTN2
Mamadou Mansour Mbaye
Consultant Consultant AFCF1
Yassin Saine Njie Program Assistant Program Assistant AFMGM
Sidy Diop Senior Procurement Specialist
Senior Procurement Specialist
AFTPW
Kadir Osman Gyasi Senior Agriculture Economist
Team Lead AFTA1
Erick Herman Abiassi Agric. Economist Agric. Economist AFTA1
Sheu Salau E T Consultant E T Consultant AFTA1
Ngor Sene Financial Management Specialist
Financial Management Specialist
AFTMW
Aifa Fatimata Ndoye Niane
Agric. Economist Agric. Economist AFTA1
Elizabeth Hassan Associate Counsel Legal LEGVP
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Kazuhiro Yoshida Sr Irrigation Engineer Sr Irrigation Engineer
AFTA1
Maya Abi Karam Sr Counsel Legal LEGVP
Faly Diallo Regional Finance Officer Regional Finance Officer
CTRLA
Juvenal Nzambimana Sr. Operations Officer Operations Support
AFTAI
Non Bank Staff Name Title Office Phone City Désiré Richard
COQUILLAT
FAO Consultant Washington D.C.
.
Locations Country First
Administrative Division
Location Planned Actual Comments
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I. STRATEGIC CONTEXT
A. Country Context
1. The Gambia is a low-income country with a population of about
1.8 million people (2012), of which half live in rural areas.
Living conditions are generally poor: the country ranked 165 out of
187 in the 2012 UNDP Human Development Index. Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) per capita stands at US$497 in 2012. The country’s
poverty headcount index remains high at 48.4 percent in 2010,
albeit on a downward trend from the 2003 rate of 58 percent.1
Poverty is deeper and more widespread among households headed by
agricultural and fishery workers, and there is pronounced spatial
diversity, with the poverty headcount index for rural households
twice as high as for urban households. There is also the concern
that a “feminization” of poverty is underway, exemplified by higher
levels of poverty among female-headed households - estimated at 18
percent of the rural households. Poverty of the female-headed
households is closely linked to their high illiteracy levels, the
absence of economic opportunities, and inadequate access to
productive resources, including credit, land ownership, skills and
support services. Youth unemployment particularly in urban areas
and low productivity in the agricultural sector are contributing
factors to income poverty and food insecurity. 2. The Gambia
recorded an average real GDP growth rate of 6.2 percent during
2008-2010. Growth is supported by strong agricultural output and
healthy gains in tourism activity. However, the 2011/12 crop
failure that contributed to the 4.3 percent contraction in GDP in
2011 disrupted the strong growth path. In particular, marked fiscal
deterioration, high government borrowing needs and shifts in
monetary policy contributed to heightened uncertainty and a jump in
real interest rates for government debt. Aside from domestic
challenges, the country remains highly vulnerable to external
shocks given its relative undiversified economy, driven largely by
the service sector. The Gambia re-exports imported commodities such
as rice, sugar, and flour to countries in the sub-region, mainly
Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Mali. The service sector (dominated
mostly by the re-export trade and tourism) accounts for over 50
percent of the GDP. The re-export trade alone constitutes about 80
percent of the country’s merchandise exports and contributes
between 53 and 60 percent of domestic tax. Tourism is the key
driver of the economy and the most significant foreign exchange
earner. Agriculture is another very important sector for the
country. However the sector’s performance remains mixed and
vulnerable due to its extreme dependence on weather. Groundnut
contributes significantly to the national economy, accounting for
60 percent of domestic exports, and 55 percent of rural households
engage in groundnut production. However, the commodity has
experienced significant decline: exports began to collapse in 2004
to just US$9.6 million compared to US$49 million in 1975
(fluctuating between US$8 million in 2001, to US$10.8 million in
2008) largely due to failures in internal marketing
arrangements.
1 The rates are based on the national poverty lines set at
US$1.25/day and US$1.00/day (in current US dollars) for 2010 and
2003, respectively.
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2
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
3. The agricultural sector account for about 30 percent of the
country’s GDP, and engages about 75 percent of the country’s work
force. The majority of the farmers are smallholders cultivating
less than 4 hectares per family. It generates approximately 40
percent of foreign exchange earnings and provides two-thirds of
total household income. 4. The sector is characterized by
subsistence production of rain-fed food crops (coarse grains,
rice), semi-intensive cash crop production (groundnuts and
horticultural production) and traditional livestock breeding.
Farming systems in The Gambia include a wide range of production
and cropping patterns in a uni-modal rainfall regime: the two main
farming systems are upland and lowland. The upland system involves
crops such as groundnuts, millet, sorghum, maize and horticultural
crops as well as livestock husbandry. The lowland rainfed farming
system is predominantly rice-based (swamp rice) and cultivation is
done primarily by women. Only about 3 percent of the country’s
arable land is under irrigation. And as in other sahelian countries
The Gambia is severely and regularly affected by adverse climatic
conditions. The 2011-2012 Sahel droughts caused big losses in
agricultural crop production, with serious impacts on household
food security and nutrition. 5. The country produces just about 50
percent of its food needs, exposing it to severe hunger and
household vulnerability due to food insecurity. The country’s
cereal needs have been consistently above local production with the
result that the cereal gap has been widening, despite the relative
increasing trend of cereal production. The cereal consumption
deficit increased from 65,661 MT in 1991 to 150,000 MT in 2007
(GAFSP, 2010). Its national requirements for rice (major staple
food) was in the range of 200,000 metric tons (MT) in 2012 while
national production of rice was estimated at only 38,800 MT2 or
only 19 percent of the country’s needs. The national food deficit
is bridged by commercial imports of rice and wheat flour in
addition to food aid. High and volatile international food prices
regularly affect access to food and hence the living standards of
Gambians. As a result the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) classifies The Gambia as a Low Income Food
Deficit Country (LIFDC). The 2013 Global Hunger Index also
classified the level of hunger in The Gambia as serious with 14
points, although it has improved in recent times. 6. Food security
and poverty have marked geographic dimensions in the country3.
Under-nutrition continues to be a major public health problem
exacerbated by poverty, food deficit, and poor dietary habits,
among others. The seasonal agricultural pattern also contributes to
acute food shortages in the rainy season often referred to as the
“hungry season” (July to September), as households exhaust their
granary before the harvest period. The low purchasing power of poor
urban and rural households also has serious nutrition and health
implications. Household food insecurity has exacerbated the
prevalence of acute and chronic malnutrition which is particularly
affecting under-5 children. According to the 2010 Multiple
Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS), 9.5 percent of under-5 children
are wasted, and 24.3 are stunted at the national level.
2 Source: Joint CILSS/FEWSNET, FAO, WFP GOTG, 2013. Pre-Harvest
Assessment of the 2012/2013 Cropping Season Food and Nutrition
Outlook, The Ex-post and Provisional Cereal and Food Balance Sheet)
3 Higher proportion of the poor and food insecure are found in
several districts of Central River Region (North and South), Lover
River Region, North Bank Region and Upper River Region.
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7. The agricultural sector, however, has a great potential to be
an important driver of growth, for reducing poverty, hunger and
malnutrition. The Gambian farm sector has yet to tap its potential.
The sector is becoming less attractive to the youth, as they seek a
better future in urban settlements and abroad. Mass exodus of youth
from the rural areas to urban areas will likely have important
consequences for agricultural production, notably labor
availability. To realize its full potential the sector will have to
address the challenge of low productivity, which is exacerbated by
a combination of structural and institutional constraints such as:
(i) low levels of rural infrastructure, including insufficiently
developed water management systems, leaving the country’s
agriculture almost entirely dependent on rainfall, in spite of
availability of important inland water resources; (ii) a weak
research system and limited capacity and efficiency of extension
services leading to poor farming practices; (iii) a lack of
adequate delivery mechanisms to ensure the provision of good
quality farm inputs such as seed, fertilizer and other agricultural
goods and services needed by producers and rural enterprises; (iv)
high post-harvest losses, paired with low value addition,
exacerbated by weak storage, processing, and marketing
capabilities; (v) weak institutional capacity of producer
organizations (POs) and of agricultural services; (vi) low levels
of private investment; (vii) lack of access to short- and long-term
financial capital; and (viii) most crucial of all, adverse
agro-climatic conditions. 8. The sector is also faced with
competitiveness challenges, as its domestic markets are opened to
international trade. Overcoming these constraints is crucial for
the enhancement of the productive capacity of the rural poor, over
72 percent of whom depend directly on agriculture for food and
incomes. Addressing a number of the constraints to provide a solid
base for private sector-led development of the sector, would
include: providing a predictable and supportive policy environment;
provisioning of better access to product and input markets,
improving access to agricultural extension services and to
financial services; strengthening the governance, cohesiveness and
efficiency of value chains. 9. In order to unleash the potential of
agriculture for sustainable growth, a number of key actions are
needed, including encouraging private sector-led agricultural
export diversification and promoting market-oriented agricultural
production based on the smallholder sector. This would require
transforming the agriculture sector from subsistence to a
commercial orientation focusing on the smallholders as the main
pathway to sustainable development. This could be achieved by
capitalizing and accelerating growth in potentially fast growing
subsectors such as horticulture and coarse grains and by increasing
rice (the main staple food) productivity for enhanced food
security, income generation and import substitution. 10.
Historically, public expenditure for the agricultural sector has
tended to focus on groundnuts production, the country’s principal
cash crop, with residual amounts only for market development and
value-addition. Consequently, little research and development on
high value crops is taking place, market information systems for
these commodities are virtually non-existent, and food and
bio-safety standards are both poorly defined and implemented.
Collectively, the above challenges enormously add to the costs of
doing business in the sector. They amount to a major disincentive
for private sector investments, weak capacity on the part of
farmers to invest in diversification to raise yields or improve
quality.
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11. The Government of The Gambia’s strategy to address critical
constraints to fast and sustainable development of the agricultural
sector includes policy initiatives outlined in the Agricultural and
Natural Resources (ANR) sector. One such important initiative is
the formulation and validation of the ANR Sector Policy Framework,
2009-2015, which is fully aligned with national goals of Vision
2020, and incorporated as the agricultural pillar of its PRSP-II
and Program for Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE)4 for
2012-2017. The policy focuses on key areas that will accelerate the
modernization of agriculture, improve productivity and
competitiveness, and enhance commercialization, particularly of
smallholders, by laying a solid foundation for a sustainable and
inclusive growth in agricultural sector. To operationalize this
policy the Government has developed the Gambia National
Agricultural Investment Plan (GNAIP). Ensuing from the African
Union’s New Partnership for Africa Development’s (NEPAD)
Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP)
framework, GNAIP re-emphasizes national goals for agricultural
development and food security while setting a road map, throughout
2011-15, with the objective to attain at least 8 percent growth in
the agricultural sector. The GNAIP is a US$296.7 million program
over the period 2011-2015. It is organized around six program
areas: (i) improved agricultural land and water management; (ii)
improvement of other shared resources (common properties); (iii)
development of agricultural value chains and market promotion; (iv)
national food and nutrition security; (v) sustainable farm
development; and (vi) GNAIP coordination, monitoring and
evaluation. 12. The government has also initiated a number of
strategies aimed at revitalizing most of the critical sub-sectors
to accelerate the achievement of the objectives of the ANR. A
National Rice Development Strategy is being finalized, under the
auspices of the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD)
funded through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). A
seed policy has also been prepared and is receiving cabinet
consideration. The Bank is supporting these initiatives through its
on-going operations in The Gambia, particularly the West Africa
Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP 1C). The proposed project
will support the modernization of the sector to make it efficient,
to strengthen the productive capacities of small- and medium-scale
producers and their organizations, and facilitate access to markets
and value addition for a selected range of commodities such as rice
and horticulture (mainly vegetables).
C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes
13. The proposed Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain
Management Project’s (GCAV) objective is closely linked to the
Government of The Gambia’s strategy for poverty reduction. It would
directly improve food security by increasing production and market
access for products important to domestic consumption. The project
supports government’s strategy on market-oriented agricultural
development, and complements interventions supporting the country’s
agricultural sector to become more competitive, sustainable and
private sector-led which will ensure sustained increases in
producers’ incomes.
4 The Program for Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE) is
the successor to the PRSP II. The PAGE is based on Government’s
Vision 2020 and various sector strategies. Its principal objective
is to accelerate growth and employment and reduce poverty (World
Bank 2013)
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5
14. The GCAV will contribute to the GNAIP’s objective of fast
and sustainable growth in the agricultural sector necessary to
achieve the targeted annual growth stipulated in the PAGE, which is
the country’s most recent Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
and covering the years 2012 to 2017. To do so, the Project will
focus primarily on three GNAIP’s program areas: (a) improved
agricultural land and water management (Program one) to contribute
to the objective of developing 25,000 ha of land for rice and
vegetable cultivation – the national objective is to achieve
self-sufficiency in rice by 2016; (b) Development of Agricultural
Chains and Market Promotion (Program Three) aimed at transforming
the agricultural sector from a traditional subsistence economy to a
modern market-oriented commercial sector with well integrated food
chains and a viable agro-processing private sector, resulting in
increased incomes of agricultural value chain actors; and (c) GNAIP
Coordination (Program Six) for effective coordination of the 5
technical programs. The project will also contribute to the Gambia
National Nutrition Policy (2010-2020) particularly to Pillar 3
related to food and nutrition security at national, community and
household levels. 15. The proposed project is consistent with the
PAGE as it would contribute to economic growth, and job creation
benefiting the most vulnerable groups, and constitutes a key
element of the Bank’s partnership strategy for The Gambia. The
World Bank and the African Development Bank have developed a Joint
Assistance Strategy (JAS) so as to ensure a coordinated and
harmonized development approach in programing and portfolio
management. The Joint Partnership Strategy (JPS) 2013-2016 deepens
the partnership between these institutions and has been designed to
better harmonize an important part of donor assistance in The
Gambia in line with the “Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness”.
16. The proposed Project is closely aligned with Pillar 1 of the
JPS “Enhancing Productive Capacity and Competitiveness in order to
Strengthen Resilience to External Shocks”. The JPS Pillar 1
recognizes that agricultural productivity and competiveness will
both reduce rural poverty and promote pro-poor and inclusive
growth, and proposes support in strengthening institutional
capacity for promoting market oriented production and private
sector participation in the agricultural sector. This is also in
consonance with government’s vision of private sector-led,
demand-driven, and pro-poor value chain development. The
Government’s ambition is to transform the agricultural sector, with
individual households and communities moving from subsistence to
farming as a business. The rationale of GCAV is to contribute to
enabling that transformation by concentrating resources on the
principal public sector constraints on private sector production
and marketing of key commodities, particularly rice and vegetables.
17. The project’s strategy is to enable smallholders in the project
area to increase their productivity and competitiveness and to
benefit from improved access to market by focusing on the
establishment of rural-urban commercial linkages that can generate
a self-sustaining growth. The proposed project supports the
development of a vibrant commercial agriculture as a means to move
away from subsistence agriculture, which is often synonymous to
poverty for a majority of rural households. Producing agricultural
products for the expanding urban markets as well as supplying
inputs to food processing enterprises will facilitate integration
of the rural economy in the country’s overall economy. In the end,
it should contribute to increasing incomes and economic
opportunities for rural households.
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18. This operation hinges on the Bank funded Development Policy
Operation in The Gambia: Economic Governance Reform Grant (EGRG)
which supports the efforts of the Government to improve economic
governance by strengthening government accountability, public
sector performance, and promoting growth through private sector
development. Policies and reforms supported by the EGRG are well
aligned with the PAGE. It complements on-going World Bank
operations in The Gambia, notably the West Africa Agricultural
Productivity Program (WAAPP 1C) and the Gambia Growth and
Competitiveness Project (GCP) by helping to upgrade the respective
values chain, supported by these projects, focusing on downstream
interventions to reduce excessive postharvest losses associated
with the targeted crops. The Bank has initiated an analytic
advisory activity on sources of growth in the Gambia. This study,
when completed, would be expected to provide direction on areas
where the proposed study could deepen interventions, particularly
in the horticulture sector, to promote inclusive growth.
Furthermore, the project would be implemented in coordination with
the proposed Health and Nutrition Project in addressing food and
nutrition security issues, particularly in coordinating
inter-sectoral collaboration on food and nutrition security. The
project would contribute to improved household food and nutrition
by promoting safe food of high nutritional value and help to
diversify local production, processing, packaging and consumption
of food rich in micronutrients like vegetables. 19. The proposed
project is also closely linked to a number of similar ongoing
projects in the sector, including: (i) IFAD funded National
Agricultural land and Water Management Development Project (Nema)
aimed at increased income from improved productivity based on
sustainable land and water management practices targeting lowland
rice and vegetables; (ii) the IFAD financed Rural Finance Project
(RFP) supporting microfinance intermediation; (iii) the AfDB and
IFAD co-financed Livestock and Horticulture Development Project
(LHDP) with the objective to reduce rural poverty by raising the
incomes of rural producers in livestock and horticulture
(Vegetable) production, processing and marketing; and (iv) the
Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) funded Food
and Agriculture Sector Development Project (FASDEP) which seeks to
reduce rural household poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition,
through increased agricultural production and productivity and
commercialization. GCAV would therefore seek to enhance donor
coordination by working closely with these projects and other
partners in the agricultural and related sectors to ensure that the
Bank’s support complements and builds on on-going donor
interventions to bring about synergic interventions in the
agricultural sector among development partners. 20. The proposed
project would contribute to both competitiveness and employment,
and vulnerability and resilience pillars of the Bank’s new Africa
Region Strategy – “Africa’s Future and the World Bank’s Support to
it”. The Project’s investments in productive infrastructure will
contribute to both objectives of the strategy by supporting the
attainment of higher growth, resilience to climate change induced
weather (drought and flooding) effects, and the diversification of
the economy. Diversification of the economy is expected to reduce
the economy’s vulnerability and enhance its resilience to external
shocks by broadening the economic base and reducing the dependence
on drought-prone agriculture.
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II. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE(S)
A. Project Development Objective
21. The Project Development Objective (PDO) for the Commercial
Agriculture and Value Chain Management Project (GCAV) is to improve
productivity and access to market of targeted agricultural
commodities for smallholders in the Project Area. 22. To achieve
this objective the project will support targeted investments to
remove critical constraints, improve productivity and build
organizational and institutional capacities, both private and
public, along the value chains of the targeted commodities. In
particular, the project will: (i) rehabilitate irrigation
infrastructure to enhance the resilience of agricultural production
systems to climate change-induced weather shocks in selected areas;
(ii) rehabilitate/build commercial postharvest infrastructure to
facilitate processing and marketing of agricultural products; (iii)
support strengthening of the technical, institutional, managerial
and marketing capacities of smallholders and their organizations,
as well as other stakeholders involved in agricultural production
and value chains, to more effectively operate in a market-driven
environment; and (iv) provide institutional-strengthening support
to improve the governance of GNAIP. 23. It is expected that the
interventions will result in increased productivity coupled with
reduced post-harvest losses, improved product range and quality,
more efficient processing and improved marketing, thereby
generating additional incomes for producers and other operators in
the targeted commodity value chains. The selected value chains are
rice and horticulture (vegetables), for which accessible markets
exist and productivity gains are achievable through adoption of
proven technologies. These commodities present potentially
profitable business opportunities that can contribute directly to
rural poverty reduction as their cultivation is dominated by poor
smallholders, predominantly women.
Project Beneficiaries 24. The project beneficiaries are
potentially all actors along the value chain of target commodities,
with priority to small farmers, but also processors, marketers and
service providers catering for smallholder agriculture needs. It
will directly support small-holder production as well as seek to
provide opportunities for the entrepreneurial poor (with attention
to gender) by leveraging private investments in agricultural
processing from commercial investors that would provide
improvements in input and output marketing opportunities for small
holders. Other beneficiaries include government and non-government
institutions that are critical for the development of the sector as
well as those who avail themselves of new income generating
opportunities through formal sector employment in commercial
agricultural ventures and improved opportunities for participating
in remunerative value chain activities resulting from stronger
market linkages with input and/ or output markets. 25. The project
is expected to benefit directly (i) at least 40,000 people in
Central River Region (CRR), West Coast Region (WCR) and North Bank
Region (NBR), of which at least 70 percent are women, comprising of
small-scale rice and vegetable farmers, largely women through
access to irrigable land; (ii) 500 young entrepreneurs to establish
off-farm micro-small-
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medium enterprises (MSMEs); and (iii) processing and marketing
entrepreneurs5. The project will also directly support various
government and private sector agencies playing a key role in the
agricultural and natural resources sector, such as the ministry of
agriculture, water resources and fisheries; trade, regional
integration and employment, land and regional governments.
Specialized agencies such as the National Agricultural Research
Institute (NARI), department of water resources, national
environment agency, and targeted value chains will also benefit in
capacity building and equipment support. Indirect beneficiaries
include members of smallholders’ households, value chain
stakeholders, and wage workers engaged in new activities. Direct
and indirect beneficiaries would reach a total of 80,000 people.
26. The project area consists of Central River Regions (CRR - North
and South) and the North Bank and West Coast regions of the
country. The selection of the project area has been guided by the
following criteria: (i) highly favorable agro-climatic conditions
for the selected commodities and the potential for growth in
agricultural production; (ii) availability of water resources (low
salinity) and suitability for tidal irrigation development; (iii)
existence of some supporting infrastructure (including past
experience in irrigation agriculture); (iv) market access and
potential synergy with other operations. CRR/N and CRR/S regions
have particularly high productive potential. They are key rice and
leafy vegetable growing areas with relatively fertile lowland
soils, which can be developed to improve national food security.
Though most smallholders are currently producing at the subsistence
level with high incidence of poverty and food insecurity, there is
a significant potential for production increases, both in terms of
expansion of cultivated area per farmer and increasing productivity
per unit of labor. With a proper enabling environment, reliable
water to support all year production, diffusion of labor-saving
technology and access to markets, agricultural incomes of
smallholders could rise significantly over a relatively short
period. 27. Strategic Choices: The project will primarily support
two values chains: rice and horticulture (particularly vegetables).
In addition, mango will be supported in close collaboration with
the Gambia Growth and Competitiveness Project, with focus on
increasing domestic processing and postharvest handling to reduce
losses. Rice and vegetables have been identified as priority crops,
given their potential to achieve both commercial and social
development objectives as these crops are mostly cultivated by
women and can improve small farmers’ food and nutrition security
and income generation opportunities.
28. In particular, rice is the main staple food for Gambians
with a per capita consumption of 117 kg per annum. The annual
requirement stands at about 200,000 MT out of which only about 19
percent is produced locally. The deficit is met through imports and
food aid. Total national area under rice cultivation has increased,
over the past decade, while the production is declining
particularly in the lowlands. This could be partly attributed to
the poor distribution and steady decline of rainfall, adverse
growing conditions, limited resources available to farmers and lack
of suitable rice varieties. Decline in national rice production has
significantly increased the dependency of the rural population on
imported rice, thus reducing their savings and net income. Income
generated from other farming and off-season farm activities is
inevitably used to procure
5 It is expected that the project will rehabilitate 2500 ha for
rice of 1ha per household, 100 ha for vegetable of which 40
women/ha; 60 groups of 5 young people for an average matching grant
of US$ 15,000; and at least 3 large scale processors.
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imported rice. It is expected that project intervention would
help to bridge the supply gap and generate surpluses that can be
sold on the local and national markets. The World Food Program is
targeting the produce from this intervention and many other sources
for the implementation of its envisaged Purchase for Progress (P4P)
program in The Gambia to meet demand for food grains for its school
feeding program in the country. 29. Similarly, horticulture plays
an important role in the food and nutrition security in The Gambia.
It contributes about 4.2 percent to GDP and involves 65 percent of
the agriculture labor force. The country has a large potential for
expanding its horticulture farming base, essentially due to the
demand from the vibrant tourism industry, the fast-growing urban
consumers markets and the attractive European outlets. The
potential for growth and import substitution exists, but high
production costs and producer prices, together with a low domestic
consumption6 are constraining the sector. For this reason,
horticultural production is receiving a high interest from the
government, and it has been identified as a key sector investment
priority in “Program 3” of the GNAIP.
30. In The Gambia, horticulture largely consists of a variety of
vegetables (tomatoes, onions, peppers, green leaves and eggplants),
fruits (mangoes, orange, cashew and bananas) and roots and tubers
which are essentially grown in the Western part of the country,
where agro-climatic conditions are favorable. In this project, the
mango and vegetable value chains were selected because of their
ubiquitous character, marketability and existing export potentials.
Vegetables are typically grown by smallholder women farmers, who
are either working individually (as out-growers in some cases) or
within communal gardens. Eighty-eight (88) percent of all women
farmers in The Gambia are involved in horticulture production. The
production systems consist of small-scale community gardens where
the major source of water for irrigation is ground water through
shallow hand-dug or concrete lined wells.
31. In the case of mango, the Gambia possesses favorable
agro-climatic conditions and comparative advantages for production
of the crop, with potentially very high returns to smallholder
growers. Growth in the sub-sector could contribute significant
revenues to the rural economy. Statistics from FAO show total area
under mango production increased from 170ha in 2005 to 250ha in
2008. Considering the low levels of investments required, and given
the (virtual) absence of labor costs (family labor), the production
costs under a smallholder mango farm orchard are very low with
great opportunities for the subsector to grow. Some of the
opportunities for sub-sector’s growth include (i) the development
of out-growing schemes to supply the local market to enhance the
empowerment of farmers, a strategy currently being supported under
the World Bank funded GCP; (ii) the development of small-scale
processing units (juices and dry mangoes) with affordable and
simple technologies, and (iii) the very low use of chemical inputs
by smallholder growers, which is desirable in some EU standards to
reach niche markets (organic foods). The proposed project will
support interventions in postharvest management (processing in
juice and dry mangoes) to increase value and reduce postharvest
losses.
6According to the Integrated Value Chain Analysis of the
Horticulture Sector in The Gambia (GDS, 2009), diet is low in
vegetables and averages 6.2kg in 2005 (annual per capita
consumption in Senegal is about 35 kg) and wholesale prices in The
Gambia are systematically higher than those in Senegal, with price
differential varying from 6 percent (pepper) to 100 percent
(eggplants).
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PDO Level Results Indicators 32. The key expected outcome
indicators of the proposed project are: (i) increase in
productivity-(tons/ha) of targeted commodities: (ii) increased
volume of market sales of target commodities by selected producer
organizations supported by the project; and (iii) percent reduction
in postharvest losses from farmers having access to the postharvest
infrastructure under the project. 33. Key intermediate outcome
indicators are as follows: (i) increased area with improved
irrigation and drainage services (hectares); (ii); number of
commercial partnerships established (aggregated by crops); (iii)
number of processing, storage, marketing facilities
rehabilitated/created; (iv) number of new small and medium
agricultural services enterprises set up through matching grant
system; (v); (number of operational water user associations created
and/or strengthened; (vi) increase of household vegetable in-take
because of the project (see Annex 1 for details; and (vii) total
number of direct project beneficiaries (disaggregated by
gender).
III. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
34. The proposed project will support interventions designed to
help the agriculture sector improve productivity and build
resilience against weather-related shocks, while improving market
access to provide incentives for farmers to produce more. It will
seek to maximize the limited IDA resources by: (i) focusing project
support on a limited number of commodity value chains that are both
important in terms of food security and nutrition, and have
significant development potential to respond to market
opportunities, and in limited geographical areas with suitable
agro-climatic conditions; (ii) focusing project activities in each
selected value-chain on resolving the binding constraints on
productivity, quality, value-addition and market linkages; (iii)
ensuring a fair balance between required hardware as well as
software investments to adequately address identified constraints;
and (iv) coordinating with similar projects supported by other
development partners, in terms of design and implementation, to
leverage support in critical areas on the value chains and avoid
duplication and enhance development outcomes of the
interventions.
A. Project Components
35. The activities of the project are clustered around two main
interlinked technical components: (i) support to development of
irrigation and productive infrastructure and (ii) support to value
chain development. The third component deals with coordination of
project activities, and support to the Ministry of Agriculture for
overall sector coordination, to facilitate the implementation of
the country National Agricultural Investment Program (GNAIP). 36.
By its design, the project seeks to lay the foundation for a
private sector led agricultural development program in The Gambia,
and serve as a catalyst to deepen partnership with other
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stakeholders including development partners in the sector,
especially IFAD and AfDB. The proposed project will focus on the
following activities: (i) improving on-farm productivity through
reduced weather related risks and production intensification; (ii)
increase value addition and market access; and (iii) support
institutional development for value chain integration/coordination
by strengthening producer organizations and promoting/public
private partnerships. Component 1: Support for development of
irrigation and key productive infrastructure—US$13.58 million (IDA
Grant US$3.75 million; IDA Credit US$7.20 million; Beneficiaries
US$2.61 million) 37. This component will support critical public
and private infrastructure needs to enhance the resilience and
competitiveness of the agricultural sector. The objective of this
component is to support the rehabilitation and improvement of tidal
irrigation schemes as well as key productive infrastructure to
address key constraints in the agricultural production system in
order to improve productivity, and to further improve the
efficiency of key value chains through improved access to markets.
The objectives of this component will be pursued under the
following two subcomponents: (i) irrigation development and farm
production improvement; and (ii) leveraging private sector
investments in agri-business and supporting access to key
productive assets. 38. Sub-component 1.1-- Irrigation Development
and farm production improvement US$9.19 million (IDA Grant US$1.99
million; IDA Credit US $7.20 million). The Sub-component will seek
(i) to improve basic irrigation infrastructure facilities and
required management systems to strengthen the country’s resilience
to climatic shocks for enhanced production of rice and vegetables;
and (ii) to enhance the producers’ access to improved technologies
(including climate-smart technologies, bio fortified varieties with
iron, carotene, etc.) which increase productivity and
competitiveness.
39. The project will complement on-going donor support,
(especially Nema and FASDEP), and public sector investments in land
and water management so as to reduce the country’s vulnerability to
climate change induced risks. These investments are expected to
raise the productive potential of the limited agricultural land and
to boost rice productivity. Currently, only about 3 percent of the
country’s irrigable land has been developed out of the 80,000ha of
irrigation potential. The GNAIP targets to bring 25,000ha under
improved soil and water management practices. Under this
sub-component, the project will finance (i) the rehabilitation of
2,500ha of existing tidal irrigation schemes for intensive rice
cultivation around CRR (North and South); (ii) the equipment of 100
ha of women-community groups vegetables gardens schemes with modern
irrigation facilities (borehole, complete solar-water pumping
system, drip irrigation system, overhead galvanized tank, fencing)
in WCR and NBR, in the promotion of improved household nutrition.
40. The sub-component activities will also include the
establishment and capacity building of Water User Associations
(WUAs), and the preparation of management and maintenance programs
for irrigation facilities and equipment.
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41. The activities to be financed under the irrigation
sub-project will include: (i) physical rehabilitation of existing
tidal irrigation works, including main and secondary canals and
drainage structures as well as the construction of on-farm
irrigation systems (works and goods); and (ii) institutional
support for a more efficient and sustainable operation and
maintenance of the infrastructure and the land and water resources
for irrigated agriculture (technical assistance and training).
Detailed design of irrigation and drainage schemes will be
developed. With the participation from water users, the Ministry of
Agriculture will work closely with the Ministry of Water Resources
to design and appraise these schemes, with the support of technical
specialists appointed by the supervising Ministry for the project.
The sites will be selected based on: (i) proximity to markets, (ii)
cost and quality evaluation, and (iii) interest expressed by farmer
groups/cooperatives to undertake the development of tertiary
networks and take subsequent responsibility for management and
maintenance. 42. The farm production improvement support activities
would be coordinated and implemented in partnership with WAAPP. It
would leverage WAAPP support to promote the implementation of
applied research and the development and extension of technological
packages that improve productivity and produce quality of the
irrigation farmers. It will also foster partnership and
coordination with other Bank and non-Bank projects in the country
to leverage interventions supporting technology development and
dissemination to increase access of rice and vegetable farmers in
the tidal schemes to improved planting materials and knowledge on
good agricultural practices. The project will target smallholder
farmers, both within and outside of productive partnerships, to
improve their productivity, product quality and cost efficiency.
Agriculture in The Gambia is very much dominated by women and
therefore labor saving technologies appropriate to women would be
identified and extension approaches would be designed to target
women. Technologies addressing nutrition relevant issues such as
nutrient-high crop varieties, as well as those addressing climate
change issues (in terms of adaptation and resilience) would be
deliberately targeted for adoption. It would also leverage on seed
distribution schemes of WAAPP to increase access of farmers to
improved seed. In collaboration with the Bank-funded Maternal and
Child Nutrition and Health Results Project, GCAV will also promote
household nutrition through information, education and
communication activities on proper utilization of diverse and safe
foods of high nutritional value (bio-fortified varieties). 43.
Sub-Component 1.2: Promoting private sector investment in
agribusiness and supporting access to key productive equipment -
US$4.37 million (IDA Grant US$1.76 million; Beneficiaries US$2.61
million). The sub-component, will seek to: (i) improve basic
postharvest management infrastructure downstream the value chains
to improve quality and enhance competitiveness of domestically
produced rice, in particular; and (ii) enhance the mechanization of
the agricultural works (field preparation, harvesting, threshing,
etc.) by building the capacity of the various stakeholders in the
private sector, particularly producer organizations and youth
groups, and the facilitation of start-up businesses supplying these
services to the producers in the tidal irrigation schemes to be
rehabilitated.
44. The goal of this sub-component will be achieved by
leveraging private resources to improve basic agro-processing and
value addition infrastructure for enhancing post-harvest value and
performance of agricultural markets and improve competiveness. The
sub-component will
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facilitate demand-driven public-private partnerships with
targeted beneficiaries, including producer’ organizations,
agro-processors and other relevant Micro, Small and Medium
agribusiness Enterprises (MSMEs) to increase domestic production
and processing capacities for high-quality rice and horticultural
produce (particularly mango) for urban markets. The project’s
support will entail facilitating the establishment of high
efficiency and high quality-yielding milling enterprises that would
improve competitiveness, particularly, of domestically processed
rice and absorb marketable rice surpluses for the urban market. It
will also promote private sector investments in mango processing
facilities and related services. The project will also seek to
leverage IFC support for private sector investment in processing
facilities with direct relevance to this project. This would be
essential for reducing the huge postharvest losses associated with
the targeted commodities in The Gambia and connect farmers to
markets. 45. A matching grant financing mechanism will be used to
leverage private investments into the sector. Funding for selected
subprojects would be allocated through a competitive process that
will include a beneficiary's contribution in the form of equity in
a Matching Grant-cum-Equity-Loan approach. Access to the matching
grant will be guided by clearly defined selection criteria such as
evidence of pre-existing adequate financial, management and
technical capacity, successfully managing horticulture production
and marketing and processing operations, and access to market
networks in key export countries. Eligible beneficiaries will
include private actors operating in the supply chains of the
targeted commodities for domestic and export markets, particularly,
high quality rice milling and marketing as well as fruit processing
(particularly, pulping, freezing and drying of mango in
coordination with GCP interventions in the mango sub-sector). The
project will also help promote linkages with local rice traders for
distribution of processed rice to urban markets. The investments to
be supported by the project include support for upgrading or
construction of rice processing facilities, processing units and
postharvest management of fruits and vegetables, cold chain
equipment, warehouses, packaging units etc. It will also finance:
(i) consultancy services and studies related to processing; (ii)
formulation (within partnership between agro-industries and
cooperatives) of nutritive recipes or fortified food from project
supported commodities likely for children under 5 years and
pregnant women. 46. Furthermore, the sub-component will
support sub-projects that largely consist of equipment that
requires a business-type use and management to be sustainable and
profitable. The matching grant ratio will (initially) be set at
different levels for Micro-Small and Medium Scale Enterprises,
including producer groups under the condition that the beneficiary
group has a contractual agreement with its members to use and
manage the equipment as a microenterprise, providing services to
the whole group and or community. The sub-component will also be
extended to young entrepreneurs who would establish farm support
service centers to provide services to farmers. Eligible categories
of productive equipment would include: (a) seedling production; (b)
small scale agricultural production equipment such as animal
traction equipment, power tillers, seeders/hand held cultivators,
spraying equipment, etc.; (c) harvesting and postharvest management
equipment and facilities, e.g., mobile harvesters, mobile
threshers, tarpaulins, drying floors, dryers, etc.; and (d)
agricultural marketing equipment, such as transport equipment
(ox-cart,), etc.
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Component 2: Support to value chain management- (IDA Grant:
US$3.15 million). 47. The objective of this component is to develop
and strengthen the institutional capacity of farmer-based
organizations and professional associations of private sector
participants in the value chain to scale up best practices and
support farmers’ and private sector participants’ sub-projects to
address key constraints and exploit the opportunities to improve
the productivity, processing, and marketing of selected
commodities; and to strengthen marketing and agri-business
development through engagement with private sector stakeholders.
The component will also support the MoA with technical assistance
to review and reorganize the cooperative department of the
Ministry. In coordination with the Growth and Competitiveness
project, GCAV will support improvements in quality standards in The
Gambia. 48. The project will facilitate the establishment,
development and operation of private productive partnerships7 among
producer organizations; processing and marketing entrepreneurs, as
well as public and private sector agencies providing development
support services to the target value chains (through public support
provided on the basis of transparent procedures to improve private
service delivery supporting such partnerships). In doing so, the
project will strengthen the technical, institutional, managerial
and marketing skills of smallholders and their organizations, as
well as that of services providers and other stakeholders involved
in agricultural production and value chains, to more effectively
operate in a market-driven environment. The component would take a
gender and vulnerable group sensitive approach to capacity building
and provide support to improved nutritional status among rural
households in project affected districts drawing on the findings of
the ongoing study on roles of women in production, consumption and
reproduction in the Gambia. The support under this component will
be provided through the following three sub-components: (i)
Strengthening the capacity of the associations of value chain
participants; (ii) Linking producers to markets; and (iii)
improving agricultural investment climate and service delivery. 49.
Sub-component 2.1: Institutional strengthening and value chain
coordination (IDA US$1.25 million): Under this sub-component, the
project will strengthen the technical and management capacity of
producer groups, professional associations and other stakeholders
benefiting from the project to adopt effective organizational
approaches to access competitive input and output markets through
formal linkages between smallholders and either larger-scale
commercial farms or separate services providers. The project’s
focus will be to strengthen the management and performance of
farmer groups as they are seen as a key element to overcome
problems of economies of scale and quality assurance. The
sub-component will improve coordination and dialogue among actors
in the value chain, through the establishment of professional
institutions and through support of partnerships between actors,
including private-public partnerships.
7 A Productive Partnership is understood here to mean a
long-term, voluntary, commercial relationship between a farmers’
organization (and its members) with an agribusiness enterprise
aiming to meet market demands. It is based on contractual
arrangements (a) to implement a business and investment plan that
has been jointly developed and (b) to undertake commercial
transactions. Productive Partnerships are one key link within a
longer value chain. A Productive Partnership does not constitute a
separate legal entity independent of its constituent parts, i.e., a
farmer organization and an agribusiness enterprise.
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15
50. The sub-component will finance the following activities: (i)
capacity building of professional associations of groups benefiting
from sub-projects; (ii) capacity building of public partner
institutions, supporting sub-project beneficiaries, and (iii)
organizational development and institutional strengthening of the
priority value chains. The sub-component will also strengthen the
capacities of private and non-governmental agricultural services
providers including cooperatives by (i) strengthening the
capacities of private sector agencies, NGOs and CBOs to support
smallholder groups and their associations to prepare development
plans and investment proposals (sub-projects) for funding under
Component 1; and (ii) strengthening the managerial and business
capacities of local micro-enterprises that provide services to
other actors of the target value chains. 51. As far as the
eligibility and selection of private and non-governmental
agricultural services providers are concerned, preference will be
given to those who have the relevant experience, skills, and
mandate to work with local communities and smallholder farmer
groups or associations. Eligibility and selection criteria will be
detailed in the Project Implementation Manual. 52. Sub-component
2.2: Linking Producers to Markets (IDA US$1.52 million). The
objective of this sub-component is to support improved value chain
development and coordination, through support to SMEs and producer
organizations to enhance their productive capacity and
competitiveness and to develop market linkages. Through this
subcomponent, the project will attempt to link agriculture to
tourism, a growing sector in The Gambia with numerous hotels and
restaurants which could be a great market to target, particularly
for vegetables. The subcomponent will facilitate farmers’ access to
market by creating and supporting commercial partnerships between
farmers’ organizations and private agribusiness enterprises to
foster the integration of a greater number of smallholder producers
in performing and remunerative value-chains, by developing and
implementing public-private alliances in the project areas aimed at
improving market linkages. The aim is to develop long-term,
voluntary and commercial relationships and implement a detailed
partnership business and investment plan that will help the
participating partners to improve their competitiveness. Project
support will be provided to at least two (2) partnerships for
eligible expenditures including advisory services and training in
support of farmer organizations (and their members) and the
respective agribusiness partner. Key activities will include
facilitating the establishment of productive partnerships,
identification and testing of the feasibility of new market
opportunities, including product-market chain assessments, market
feasibility studies, proprietary brand development studies, and
access to specific food product distribution channels, provisioning
of advisory services, organizing knowledge management and sharing
best practices. 53. The component will finance the preparation and
implementation of productive partnership business and investment
plans through: technical support services and training towards
implementation of selected partnership business plans. In addition
to the aforementioned support provided in preparing and
implementing productive partnership investment plans, which could
be funded through Sub-component 1.2, technical and managerial
services would be provided to support: (a) the establishment and
development of smallholder farmer organizations; (b) the
establishment and development of partnership relations between
farmer organizations and agribusiness enterprises; (c) the
development of a network of local service providers; (d)
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interaction between regional governments, business associations
and other support institutions to facilitate market-led
agricultural growth; and (e) support strengthening the market
information system for rice and vegetables through communication
support to producer groups using mobile, community radio, the print
and other media. Trade fairs and market days will be promoted as
well as capacity building of producers in marketing. 54.
Sub-component 2.3: Improving the agricultural investment climate
and service delivery (IDA US$0.38 million). The sub-component would
support policy dialogues with key stakeholders, especially the
private sector through public-private round tables, forums or
platforms (farmers, processors, entrepreneurs supporting the value
chains etc.) to provide a voice on key policy issues and to
engender effective partnership with the public sector so as to
broaden and deepen the agricultural commercialization agenda. The
subcomponent will support MoA to organize, in coordination with
GIEPA and the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit of the Ministry
of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) participatory policy
dialogues to review and improve the agribusiness regulatory
environment, institutional conditions and service delivery systems.
These business forums would also contribute to the formulation of
national agricultural competitiveness strategies, based on market
opportunities and comparative advantage. The sub-component will
build the capacity of MoA to provide, with support from GIEPA,
business services and create a one-stop-shop for investment
promotion in the agriculture sector including clear guidelines and
templates for private investors. 55. In light of the findings of
the recently completed Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF),
in The Gambia, the project will provide technical advisory services
for: (i) the full mapping and demarcation of all land used under
the project; and (ii) the implementation of transparent and
participatory land use procedures in project areas. This will
involve providing support to perform a mapping of project
beneficiaries’ farms using geographical information system as well
as the preparation of a local cadastral plan showing the allocation
of land rights to project beneficiaries. Such rural cadastral plan
will be used as a pilot for scale-up at national level when the
opportunity arises. Component 3: Project Administration and
Institution Building--US$2.56 million (IDA Grant: US$1.82 million;
GoTG US$0.74 million). 56. The objective of this component is to
ensure proper coordination of project implementing agencies and
sound management of project activities, while providing support to
the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) for the overall coordination of
the Gambia National Agricultural Investment Plan (GNAIP). This
component comprises the following two sub-components: (a) Project
management, monitoring and evaluation; and (b) Support to Ministry
of Agriculture (MoA) for the implementation of the GNAIP. 57.
Sub-component 3.1:—Supporting Project Management, Monitoring and
Evaluation --US$2.39 million (IDA (US$1.65 million; and GoTG
US$0.74million). This subcomponent would support all activities
necessary to ensure that the project is implemented in accordance
with the project implementation manual. This subcomponent will: (i)
finance the incremental expenses incurred by the Government in
implementing the project through the Central Projects Coordination
Unit (CPCU) and the participating field implementing agencies and
various service providers; (ii) provide technical assistance
through consultancies, audits, and training to enhance
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implementation capacity of the CPCU; and (iii) finance
communication and outreach activities to improve project
visibility; and (iv) finance various monitoring and evaluation
roles. 58. Sub-component 3.2: Support to Ministry of Agriculture
(for implementation of GNAIP)—(IDA $0.17 million). Under this
subcomponent, the project will provide support to the Ministry of
Agriculture to develop strategies and policy frameworks to
adequately coordinate and implement the GNAIP. Particularly, the
project will provide support to: (i) improve agriculture and rural
development policy and strategy formulation and analysis at all
levels of government as well as to enhance national capacity to
implement the GNAIP; (ii) streamline interagency coordination in
delivering public services to the rural sector; and (iii) the GNAIP
Steering Committee in conducting strategic studies, performing
external monitoring and evaluation, and ensuring appropriate
articulation and alignment of donor-funded operations, including
the proposed project, with the GNAIP program areas.
B. Project Financing
59. The proposed lending instrument is a five year Investment
Project Financing (IPF). The total cost of the project is $19.27
million and would be financed by a combination of IDA Credit and
Grant for a total of US$15.92million equivalent. Other sources
include parallel co-financing of activities by beneficiaries
(supported value chain entrepreneurs) amounting to US$2.61 million,
and counterpart funding from the Government budget (US$0.74
million) to partially support additional operating cost of MoA’s
relevant departments, including the CPCU, in project
implementation. 60. The following table provides a summary of
project cost by component. Details of the project costs and its
financing plan are provided in Annex 2. Project Cost and Financing
Table 1: Project Cost and Financing
Project Components Cost Including
Contingencies
Gvt
Beneficiaries IDA-GRANT
Financing
Percent Financing
IDA-CREDIT
Percent Financing
A. Support for Development of Irrigation and Key Productive
Infrastructure
13. 56 2.61 3.75 27.66 7.20 53.10
Subtotal 13.56 2.61 3.75 27.66 7.20 53.10 B. Support to
Value
Chain Management 3.15 3.15
Subtotal 3.15 3.15 100.00 C. Project
Administration and Institution Building
2.56 0.74 1.82
Subtotal 2.56 0.74 1.82 71.09 Total Project Costs 19.27 0.74
2.61 8.72 45.25 7.20 37.36
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C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design
61. The project design has benefitted from the Bank’s extensive
experience in agriculture and rural development in The Gambia, and
other countries in Africa and Asia regions. More specifically, the
project draws heavily on the recent analytical work undertaken in
The Gambia, particularly The Gambia Agricultural Sector Policy Note
and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF)
report on the Project Pipeline Screening and Support to the
Establishment of a PPP Unit in The Gambia. It also draws on the ANR
and GNAIP. The Agricultural Policy Note and its accompanying
background reports on agricultural values chains in The Gambia not
only provided critical insights and inputs for the preparation of
the proposed project, but most importantly facilitated the
selection of commodities of focus. The design also took into
consideration lessons leant from successes and failures from the
institutional arrangements of past and on-going IDA funded
operations in the country, including, Gambia Community Demand
Driven Project (CDDP); Third Education Project, Gambia Growth and
Competitiveness Project; and the West Africa Agricultural
Productivity Program (1C), as well as past and on-going
donor-supported projects in The Gambia, especially AfDB, IFAD and
IDB. The relevant lessons include: 62. Government and Beneficiary
Commitment: A key lesson from WB, AfDB and IDB-financed projects in
The Gambia is that commitment by government and the participation
of beneficiaries and other local stakeholders in project
implementation ensures smooth implementation, success and
sustainability of the project. The PPP and demand-driven approach
adopted for the proposed project requires that its design,
preparation and implementation are driven by the farmer-based
organizations and the professional associations of the private
sector participants, notably the agro-dealers, including input
suppliers and traders; agro-processors and other agricultural
enterprises. The proposed project recognizes the need for
considerable and sustained long term support of community
organizations, such as WUAs or other agribusiness
clusters/farmer-based organizations. This support includes both
technical assistance through the project, and political support
from the government; 63. Benefits of Small-Scale irrigation
infrastructure investments: An important lesson learned from the
irrigated agriculture intensification projects in the Africa
Region, South East Asia and in many other regions is that compared
to large-scale projects, investments to improve and expand existing
irrigation facilities for small-to-medium-scale unit areas is less
costly in investment of capital, and benefits could build up in a
relatively short time. More than fifty per cent of the resources of
this project will be devoted to investments in community-managed
small-scale irrigation development; 64. Community Ownership of the
project: The experience from the World Bank-assisted rural
development projects in the Gambia (notably the CDDP) and the West
Africa sub-region, particularly Senegal (Small Rural Operations
Project) and Nigeria (Fadama I project) provides strong evidence
for supporting the formation of WUAs, farmer-based organizations.
In general, most of the irrigation projects implemented in the
Africa Region show that the recovery of operating and maintenance
costs through water charges and beneficiaries’ ownership is key to
sustainability. The design of this project, therefore, supports the
“user pay” principle and beneficiary participation is explicitly
built into project planning, implementation and operation. The
tidal irrigation and drainage investments go in parallel with
support for institutional
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development and the establishment of economic interest groups
(EIGs)/farmer based organizations where they do not exist and
strengthen existing ones;
65. Integration of infrastructure with livelihood activities and
value chain approach. The experience from implementing rural
development projects in the Africa Region and most other countries
in which the World Bank has financed such projects reveals that the
integration of infrastructure investments with parallel
income-generation initiatives, such as rice and horticultural crop
development provides a basis for high returns on investments.
Similarly, the establishment of an integrated system that links
production, processing and marketing is necessary for the optimum
utilization of resources and maximum benefits, and should be the
preferred direction for future development of the agricultural
sector. The proposed project addresses these issues by placing
strong emphasis on an integrated approach which combines
investments in infrastructure with those into improved and more
diversified agricultural production, and the processing and
marketing of these products, i.e. the value-addition imperative;
66. Innovative commercial agriculture interventions that have been
approved by IDA with similar objectives and modalities in other
countries have provided direction to the proposed project. Notable
examples include recently approved Senegal Sustainable and
Inclusive Agribusiness Development Project in Senegal; Cote
d’Ivoire Agriculture Sector Support Project, and the Ghana
Commercial Agriculture Project, among others. Also, relevant were
lessons from agribusiness models for fostering public private
partnerships in export value chains for improving smallholders’
inclusion and improving farmers’ livelihoods such as demonstrated
in the Vietnam Agriculture Competitiveness Project; Papua New
Guinea’s Productive Partnership in Agriculture Project, and the
productive alliance concept from Latin America. These and many
others amply demonstrate that market oriented private sector-led
interventions are more likely to be successful in delivering shared
growth and prosperity. Value chain development must be private
sector led, with public interventions aimed at helping the private
sector overcome critical constraints and market failures. This
requires a bottom-up approach and interventions must be driven by
economically viable projects promoted by private sector and
professional organizations for the given value chain. Partnerships
need to be market-driven and demand-driven.
IV. IMPLEMENTATION
A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
67. Project implementation will take place over five (5) years.
With a project mid-term review envisaged take place 2 years after
project effectiveness. The Ministry of Agriculture will be the lead
implementing institution. 68. The project will be implemented
within existing public sector structures while adopting an
appropriate private sector orientation to deepen the agriculture
commercialization agenda of the project. In terms of implementation
therefore the project would: (i) utilize existing institutional
mandates and capacity –however limited – and would not create
project-specific duplicates; (ii) put particular efforts into
institutional coordination across ministries, departments
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and agencies through strong mutually beneficial partnerships
between the responsible Ministry and other units of Government; and
(iii) ensure that project management incorporates private sector
perspectives essential for long-term private sector involvement in
the development and commercialization of The Gambian agricultural
sector. 69. The Ministry of Agriculture will have the institutional
responsibility for the project, and will be responsible for the
project’s proper execution and supervision, in close collaboration
with other relevant public and private sector agencies. 70.
Strategic oversight and orientation function will be played by an
inter-ministerial Project Steering Committee (PSC) whose membership
would also include non-public actors. The existing GNAIP steering
committee will service as the PSC for GCAV, into which other
relevant bodies will be coopted to support the execution of project
agenda. The PSC is headed by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA),
with membership comprising MoA, Ministry of Trade, Industry and
Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE), Ministry of Finance
and Economic Affairs (MoFEA), Ministry of Fisheries and Water
Resources (MOFWR), Ministry of Lands and Regional Government,
Ministry of Forestry and Environment (MoFEN), National Nutrition
Agency (NaNA), private sector (represented by Gambia Chamber of
Commerce and Industries), representative of the farmer-based
organizations, representatives respectively of the apex
organizations of women and youth; and civil society, represented by
the coalition of civil society group in The Gambia. 71. The main
responsibilities of the PSC will include: i) providing strategic
and policy guidance to ensure effective implementation and
coordination of project activities; (ii) ensuring conformity with
all applicable policies and guidelines; (iii) reviewing project
progress reports and assessing performance indicators; (iv)
approving the annual work plan and budget; (v) providing support
for the prompt and efficient resolution of challenges or conflicts
that arise during project implementation; (vi) facilitating
effective collaboration with and among Project stakeholders and
implementers; and (vii) such other responsibilities as set forth or
elaborated in the Project Implementation Manual. The CPCU will act
as the Secretariat for the Project Steering Committee (including
pre
