Project profile — Supporting Smallholder Farmers in Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Ethiopia (27.00%)
• Kenya (60.00%)
• Zimbabwe (4.00%)
• Uganda (4.00%)
• Congo, Democratic Republic (5.00%)

• Agricultural inputs:
Agricultural inputs (31150) (35.30%)
Livestock (31163) (10.40%)
Agricultural extension (31166) (29.70%)
Agricultural services (31191) (24.60%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)
• Nutrition (significant objective)

The extended project aims to protect and strengthen the livelihoods and food security for smallholder farming households affected by coronavirus (COVID-19). The extended project works to support small farmers in a number of African countries to alleviate the impact of COVID-19. Project activities include: (1) increasing access by women and men smallholder farmers to gender equitable remote, and mobile agricultural extension services, and to markets; (2) providing access to community-based saving groups to capital for the purchase of agricultural inputs, equipment and other assets and household necessities provided; (3) producing air remote extension messages by local radio stations concerning climate-smart agricultural production in rural and peri-urban areas, as well as COVID-19 messaging; and (4) providing training to teach appropriate post-harvest storage techniques and facilities to be used at household and community levels. The extended project is aiming to reach 100,000 direct beneficiaries (21,600 women, 18,400 men, 30,000 girls and 30,000 boys).

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) conservation agriculture systems for smallholder farmers successfully scaled-up in focus areas; (2) civil society, government and the private sector champion and promote conservation agriculture systems for smallholder farmers; and (3) improved quality and implementation of national and regional agricultural policies and programs supporting conservation agriculture.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2021) include: (1) 40,580 smallholder farming households(of whom are 18,445 women-headed households) have a Food Consumption Score of acceptable; (2) 35,354 smallholder farming households(of whom are 17,692women-headed) experienced improved access to food; (3) 79% (19,312) of women farmers, compared with 9% at baseline, reported being able to provide for their households without having to sell or dispose of their assets; (4) 186,413 farmers (of whom are 101,251 women ) received extension messages through SMS messages, flyers, radio programs, audio messages, visits and phone calls; (5) 33,589 farmers (of whom are 22,131 women ) received training on post-harvest management; (6) 14,703 farmers (of whom are 6,923 women ), with 91% of the aggregation group members sold through their aggregation groups; (7) 23,224 farmers (of whom are 13,185 women) used improved storage structures/facilities/ technologies, including Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS bags) to protect the longevity of their harvest for a better price later in the season; (8) 22,832 farmers (of whom are 17,556 women) are members of savings and credit groups; (9) 18,571 famers (of whom are 14,751 women) accessed credit from their groups with 81% savings group members; (10) 22,780 farmers (of whom are 16,496 women) received crop related inputs; and (11) 9,000 poor and vulnerable households (of whom are 7,304 women-headed households) received 25,636 chickens, 987 goats and sheep, 1,200 liters of drugs and 5,000 deworming tablets for their livestock.

• Proactive disclosure