IFAD Photo by Giuseppe Bizzarri. Pakistan - Barani Area Development Project. An extension worker visits a site where wheat seeds are being separated from chaff.

Project area. The project will be implemented in 10 districts in the Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh and North-West Frontier provinces. The districts are selected from among the 26 districts currently targeted under the second phase of the Crop Maximization Project (CMP-II), which is a national programme with a long-term goal of eventually reaching approximately 200 districts across the country.

Target group. The target group will be resource-poor rural inhabitants, including small-scale landowners, tenant farmers, the landless and women. At least 25,000 poor rural households are expected to benefit from the project.

Project objectives. The goal of the project is to contribute to food security and poverty reduction by enhancing the productivity of smallholder farmers and other poor rural families. More specifically, the project will seek to: (i) increase crop production in the target districts through additional financing for input supplies; (ii) enhance food security for the rural poor through increased production and income generation; (iii) empower smallholder farmers and disadvantaged villagers through support for self-managed community organizations; and (iv) ensure direct benefits for women and the landless through a sharper focus on gender and poverty mainstreaming.

Project description. In addition to project management, monitoring and evaluation, the project has two components:

• Operation and support of revolving funds. The project will establish revolving funds to finance farmer purchases of input supplies and to support income diversification initiatives for women and the landless. These funds will be transferred to the Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN), which will then channel loan funds to the four participating rural support programmes (RSPs). Eligible applicants will receive loans from the RSPs for seasonal crop production - primarily input costs for wheat and rice, although maize and other food grains will also qualify - and income diversification interventions (IDI). In the main, IDI loans will be directed at women and the landless, and are expected to be used primarily for livestock production, processing and marketing activities. Part of the interest charged by the RSPs on all repaid loans will be returned by the RSP to the borrower's village organization, and these funds will then be available for lending by that organization for any purpose approved in its by-laws. RSPN and the four participating RSPs will be provided with resources for capacity-building activities. RSPs and village organizations will receive support in managing and monitoring the use of funds through the revolving fund implementation support subcomponent.
• Gender and poverty mainstreaming. Funds will be made available for the recruitment of a national gender and poverty specialist who will oversee the activities of four provincial-level gender and poverty specialists, and supervise the RSP staff operating from the social mobilization units, particularly those working with women's and landless groups. Social organizers will promote the formation and development of special interest groups for women or landless community members. They will be assisted in establishing savings programmes, and in identifying and implementing productive activities other than crop production.

	IFAD Photo by Giuseppe Bizzarri. Pakistan - Barani Area Development Project. A female extension worker shows other women how to vaccinate poultry.

Important features. The project directly supports and operates within the framework of the Government's CMP-II. The project represents IFAD's response to the medium- and longer-term impact of the food crisis. Its objectives comply with the IFAD Strategic Framework 2007-2010 and the country strategy. In addition, the project is fully aligned with the Government's poverty reduction strategy paper and development priorities, and is part of the United Nations joint action plan to address the food crisis in Pakistan. Links will also be established with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), whose current operations are funded by a number of donors and/or development agencies such as IFAD. It is expected that implementation of the Crop Maximization Support Project, especially the IDI activities, will be closely linked with the ongoing Microfinance Innovation and Outreach Programme, which is funded by IFAD and implemented by PPAF. The project will promote three principal innovative features: (i) the introduction of poverty and gender targeting into the parent CMP-II, which so far has focused little attention on these issues within its design or implementation; (ii) the gradual transfer to community control of revolving fund operations, which also provides an intrinsic exit strategy; and (iii) the testing of new approaches to reducing the risks and increasing the relevance of microfinance at the community level, including prospective microinsurance schemes and Islamic microfinance products.

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Cofinanciers. No cofinancing is envisaged.

Facts and figures Region: Asia and the Pacific Project ID number: 1494 Nature of project: Agricultural development Total project cost: US$20.3 million IFAD loan: US$18.33 million Cofinancing gap: See section on potential cofinanciers Domestic contribution: US$1.94 million Proposed terms: Highly concessional Stage of project cycle: Design completed Next step in project development: Negotiations during the week of 7 September 2009 Date for consideration by the Executive Board: September 2009 Project duration: Five years Tentative project start-up date: January 2010 Implementing agency: Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Borrower: Islamic Republic of Pakistan Hot links Rural poverty in Pakistan IFAD operations in Pakistan Planned project activities disclaimer Contact information Mr T. Elhaut Director, Asia and the Pacific Division Mr Y. Tian Country Programme Manager e-mail: y.tian@ifad.org International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Via Paolo di Dono, 44, 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: + 39-0654591 e-mail: ifad@ifad.org