#sfrome: Afghanistan's poor farmers struggle to access markets (188)

By P. J. Bury

Gulla Jan Ahmadzai introduced us to the at time tough conditions for small Afghan farmers to increase their living standards through increased productivity, diversity and access to markets. Road conditions; a lack of consolidation of farmers associations (cooperatives, associations and federation); insufficient adequate product storage to influence and respond to market demands; and a lack of collaboration with intermediary traders and exporters do not favor the realization of their aspirations. Even IFAD itself, supporting them, has difficulties in identifying local context adjusted mechanisms to assist them in their endeavour.
Gulla presents and a lively exchange of experiences and suggestions ensues with among others colleagues working in similar environments like Kosovo.

Gulla will remain in touch with the 8 participants, send them the presentation and exchanged contact details.

Some notes on the discussion

• Similar issues in Bosnia
• Advise services to farmers are private in Afghanistan
• Dairy projects, goats, poultry, training are donations
• Trained para-vet at district level, 10 para-vet in each district, trained
• Integrated dairy scheme
• Micro finance: small donations
• Loans provided by IFAD, people not keen in getting loan against interest
• Conditions for the sharia loan: sharia production. Loan is given, pay back a % on benefits made. If no benefit is made, only the loan itself is to reimbursed
• IFAD works with 4 implementing partners 
• Project area about 500.000 ha.
• No processing included, no storage facility, off-season problems
• Example mellon to Pakistan exported in season and comes back more expensive to Afghanistan from Pakistan in off-season
• Sugar cane is not processed, exported and Afghanistan imports sugar
• Much is still in piloting stage, no loans provided up to know 

Challenges
Storage for off-season responding to demand

• No off-storage does not allow meeting demand constantly, dispersed production doesn’t provide scale to invest in storage 
• Bosnia exchanges experiences on storage, gradually improving through much external support (including fresh fish and berries, starting with milk production in UHT)
• Traditional storage experiences IFAD works in 7 provinces, does not involve importers / exporters in project design (as IFAD does in Jemen and Jordan) 
• Cooling facilities for milk products are not big enough to cater for other products 
• Cooperative movements could address dispersed production and addressing dealing with private sector (Participant shares experience in Latin America) : farmer organizations are interested in investing this. 
• Consolidation of cooperative movement seems hampered by levels of education? 
• Ethiopia example of unions and federation of cooperatives, who then get access to bank loans 
• No processing facilities to add value 
• ICT can be used to increase market information: by voice or SMS 

Suggestion to increase information on markets, demand, fluctuation of prices

• Look into traditional information channels 
• Grapes a promising product, dry with solar 
• Government strategy is weak because of political history 
• Only policy existing is for grain, still in draft 
• ILEIA suggestion: work more on cooperatives 
• ICT , paper by Jensen on fishermen in Kerala using cellphone, initially the richer people. Benefits are higher to them than the cost of the cellphone and its use. (paper can be made available, see list of participants). 
• In higher density areas people can benefit from only a few phones If they are organized they can influence the market prices.

Afghanistan: microfinance, dairy development and the future – interviews during IFAD's Start-up Workshop

Habib Ur Reman Mayar, Aid Coordinator Officer, Ministry of Finance, Afghanistan, shares some thoughts about how he would like to see Afghanistan in ten years time.
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Khalil Baheer, Rural Finance Specialist, Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), talks about opportunities of the IFAD-supported Rural Microfinance and Livestock Support Programme to work with the Islamic Banking System in Afghanistan.
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Khalil Baheer also talks about a growing demand for microfinance products in rural areas of Afghanistan.
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Anthony Bennett, Dairy and Meat Officer, Animal Production Group, FAO, talks about FAO’s role in dairy development and in the IFAD-supported Rural Microfinance and Livestock Support Programme in Afghanistan.
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Targeting, financial and knowledge management – the start-up workshop for Afghanistan continues

Working with rural women and operational implications

The situation of women in Afghanistan is not easy. Therefore, the targeting of women requires a special attention. During the first part of the day participants discussed their experiences in working with rural women and targeting.

IFAD often targets women who are the head of their family. “A woman might be responsible for the income of her family but might not be the head of the family”, said Javed Rizvi from ICARDA. Another issue brought up relates to women who are officially married but do not get the deserving treatment from their husbands. Some times, a rural man has three or four wives who he abandoned for various reasons. These women are very poor and in many microfinance programmes their participation is the highest. “It is only the community who can tell you who is really poor,” Javed pointed out.

At the beginning of their operations in Afghanistan, BRAC staff (men and women) were not allowed to see women without having permission from their village head. “Once the leaders are convinced about our programme, they let us in,” said Fazlul Hoque from BRAC-Afghanistan. It takes a lot of effort to convince village leaders about programme benefits. “We have to depend on village elders to get information,” he pointed out. To address this issue, all BRAC staff are recruited locally – from the area where their programme operates. It is convenient in terms of language and acceptability. The problem is that lack of basic education discourages women from applying for the programme.

It is a challenge to find a well-qualified female staff. ICARDA’s approach to the problem is that it identifies two women in each village who are either well-educated or have experience in working in development programmes. When going to talk to women, they are accompanied by two men so they can easily enter other villages and reach local women. However, the situation of women is very location specific in Afghanistan. “In some villages, men cannot enter a village to talk to women, only a woman,” said Javed Rizvi from ICARDA. It is therefore important to rely on female activists in each village, who are receiving a small compensation from the project. “If something happens we know,” he pointed out. Rather than depending on a single source of information, BRAC has a network of people with whom it communicates. FAO tried to recruit female activists in villages but it was a difficult experience as their salaries could not be paid after completion.

In other cases, women are not interested to work in development programmes because they want to stay in their province or their families simply do not allow them. “Programme staff should talk to as many households as possible to improve their understanding about the benefits of programme activities. It is also important for programme staff to understand the capacities of people,” said Mohammad Ibrahimi, Livestock Specialist from the Rural Microfinance and Livestock Support Programme.

To be able to reach rural women, it is necessary to respect the local culture. “In villages, ICARDA staff don’t talk about irrelevant subjects like politics but only about the programme,” added Javed Rizvi. When recruiting a local woman for a development programme, her family must be involved and her terms of reference should be discussed and agreed on with the brother and father. Working with locals is a gradual confidence building.

FAO is putting a lot of effort, time and resources to train local people. “The more our programme advances, the easier it is for us to reach other places where we haven’t been before,” said Tek Thapa from FAO, Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, FAO concentrates more on outputs rather than outcomes since it is easier and talking about politics is avoided. “Going slow is important, otherwise there are chances of failures,” added Olaf Thieme from FAO, Rome.

Financial management

Shankar Kutty had a discussion with the PCU and service providers during which they tried to ‘iron out’ some of the issues of financial management and requirements of the programme. This resulted in some need for further clarification from service providers with regard to the requirements of the Government of Afghanistan. According to the service providers, the processes of the Ministry of Finance should be strengthened to avoid the many delays in fund releases. After the discussion, Shankar proceeded by responding to questions from the services providers and the PCU. In the afternoon we were able to resume the training in loan administration and financial management of the programme with the PCU account.

Knowledge management

The day ended with presentations by Martina Spisiakova from IFAD on knowledge management (KM). Martina started by explaining the basic concepts so that everybody understands what we mean by KM and knowledge, and then by giving an overview of KM in IFAD. Martina stressed that KM should be integrated in all programme’s processes including the monitoring and evaluation (M&E). M&E creates a large amount of information and the outputs that highlight programme progress are based on M&E. This is the reason why the information generated by M&E needs to be managed so that the findings and lessons learned can be disseminated, contribute to improved processes and systems and inform strategic decision-making in the future. Martina introduced the Knowledge Value Chain Approach to explain how value can be added to the knowledge generated in the context of programme activities and how critical reflection can help to assess programme outcomes. This and much more was covered in the presentation on linking KM to M&E.

IFAD’s corporate information system (Xdesk) and the Project Life File (PLF) was also presented showing the programme staff how to upload documents directly from the field, participate in team discussions and find information. Afghanistan will be the first country for which field staff will be sharing information through the PLF. Other stakeholders will be able to view this information. The Afghanistan programme has a privilege of having a Knowledge Management Officer (KMO) – Jawaid Samadey.

Concrete suggestions were made about how the programme staff should manage information and knowledge coming out of its activities, draw lessons from successes and failure, package and disseminate them to key people. During this workshop we also worked with Jawaid and others to outline the learning agenda (e.g. documenting the experiences of working with rural women) as well as concrete steps to developing a KM approach for the programme.

Interviews

Matthew Robinson, Finance Director, Microfinance Investment Support Facility Afghanistan (MISFA) talks about how microfinance works in conflict areas and related challenges.
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Fazlul Hoque, Country Programme Head, BRAC-Afghanistan, talks about women and microfinance in Afghanistan.
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Anti-corruption, logframe, progress reports and more… the start-up workshop for Afghanistan continues

The second day of the start-up workshop for the Rural Microfinance and Livestock Programme begun with good news. Our two Afghan participants that were held at the Dubai airport have been released thanks to assistance of the United Nations Security Office in Dubai and the Afghan Embassy. Here they are – Sayed Kefayatullah (left) and Nasrullah Mohmand – tired but happy to be free again!

According to the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, Afghanistan ranked 117th out of 159 countries. Irene Li from IFAD was invited to present IFAD’s policy on fraud and corruption. Some extensive discussion followed the presentation regarding anti-corruption measures, responsibility for reporting and handling corruption cases. According to Habib Ur Reman Mayar, Coordination Officer at the Ministry of Finance and Aid, the government can reduce the likelihood of corruption with the help of donor community. “Government can only be held accountable for the sound use of funds that come though their treasury”, he said.
Given the selection of service providers such as FAO and ICARDA that both have a zero tolerance policy and stringent internal control mechanisms, we are confident that IFAD’s own anti-corruption policy will be adhered to.

Ricardo Luna, Administrative and Finance Officer from FAO shared an interesting experience of insuring the transportation of items such as seeds, tools and fertilizers to difficult locations. In the past, transporters did not have any insurance for the goods they were transporting and, in the cases where these goods would be stolen (as often happens in Afghanistan), they refused to take responsibility for the loss. To minimize risks from loss or damage of transported goods, especially in insecure provinces, last month FAO hired a transportation company that has insurance with a Dutch Insurance company. In case of accidents, the transportation company is not responsible for the damage or loss of goods.

The participants also discussed arrangements for the programme’s M&E system. Given a variety of service providers it was agreed that a common approach is needed to ensure that the programme is able to capture, monitor and report the right information. Every six months, each service provider will have to prepare a progress report which will then be consolidated by the PCU by using a common reporting format. In addition, an annual progress reports will be prepared according to a template to be developed soon by the PCU.

The rest of the day was devoted to fine-tuning the logframe and agreeing on administrative and implementation arrangements... and celebrating the birthday of Javed Rizvi from ICARDA. Happy Birthday Javed!

Interview with Abdul Latif Zahed, National Programme Coordinator

IFAD is promoting the rights of women and improving their access to social and economic opportunities. Since this is the first IFAD-supported programme in Afghanistan, do you foresee any problems or resistance from both men and women?

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IFAD kicks-off its first initiative in Afghanistan through a start-up workshop

From today, IFAD is holding a start-up workshop for its first initiative in Afghanistan – the Rural Microfinance and Livestock Programme. The event is taking place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Twenty-two stakeholders of the programme gather together for the first time to discuss and improve their understanding of important elements of project management, implementation and IFAD’s support.

Participants include staff from the Programme Coordinating Unit (PCU), Programme’s Lead Implementation Agency – Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) – and other important partners from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), FAO, ICARDA, BRAC Afghanistan (Bangladesh), Microfinance Investment Support Facility Afghanistan (MISFA) and First Micro Finance Bank (FMFB).

The first day started with bad news about two Afghan participants being stuck in the immigration office at Dubai airport having problems with their visa. We are doing our best, including the Ambassador of Afghanistan, to get them out of the airport... :-(

Most participants are new to IFAD so it was important for them to learn how the institution works. Maria Donnat started the day by presenting IFAD’s mandate and strategic objectives.

Abdul Latif Zahed, National Programme Coordinator and Assad Zamir, General Director of the Programme Implementation and Coordination Unit, MAIL, made a presentation on the role of agriculture in the Afghan economy, in food security, livelihoods, sustainable resources and national security.

They also shared some major challenges to rural development. Assad Zamir talks about how rural people are coping in the context of conflict.

Afghanistan’s top agricultural priorities include:

• Improved production as the first step in building a value chain.
• Agricultural credit for farmers which is legal, simple and fair, and which benefits farmers and small/medium businesses through established financial institutions and cooperatives.
• Irrigation and watershed management on small, medium and large scale to heal damaged land, fight erosion, floods and drought.
• Reform, capacity-building and change management at all administrative levels.
• Land management – the Government owns 6m hectares, but only gets US$ 1m in revenue.
• Marketing and international trade facilitation that requires increased farm productivity and off-farm jobs.
• Strategic grain reserves as a protection from man-made and natural disasters by securing a minimum price for crops at harvest and domestic consumer price support when needed.
• Improved certification of seeds to ensure quality.

Tekeste Tekie, FAO Representative, Afghanistan, talks about how the situation has changed for farmers over the last few years.



An interesting feature to be implemented by the programme is the ‘Young Professional Programme’ which will identify new university graduates and offer them learning and employment opportunities. For example, young professionals will learn various technical subjects relevant to their work, help the PCU in preparing programme documents and provide support to the M&E officer in collecting, organizing and recording data.

The session on targeting stimulated a lot of extensive discussion. How do we define a poor household? There is a misperception that the less livestock families have, the poorer they are. However, in Afghanistan, the poorest rural households sometimes have 2-3 cows that enable them to survive. An extra cow represents a ‘saving’ for a family.

Women are IFAD’s important target group. Maria explained why we choose women as beneficiaries of the programme. “They are the most vulnerable segment of the population in Afghanistan,” she said. However, participants expressed their concerns about mistargeting as a major risk. “More effort should be made so that beneficiaries are identified properly”, said Abdul Latif Zahed, National Programme Coordinator.

In Bangladesh for example, BRAC uses the participatory rural appraisal by involving communities in targeting. “Community people know best who should benefit,” said Md. Fazlul Hoque, Country Head of BRAC-Afghanistan (Bangladesh). MFIs will have to define their own criteria for defining clients, keeping in mind IFAD’s target group and at the same time minimizing the risks of mistargeting.

Another issue is how to reach women in the first place. “We cannot talk to a woman without having permission from her husband, brother or father,” said Javed Rizvi, Country Manager of ICARDA-Afghanistan Programme. “We knock on woman’s door but it is the husband who opens it,” he pointed out. Men will therefore be involved in the discussions which will contribute to raising their awareness about gender issues. “Cooperation of men is very important,” added Javed. Therefore, targeting should be done without a rush and step-by-step in order to be effective.

Maria provided an overview of programme logframe, expected results, quantitative targets and implementing arrangements. Through feedback and extensive discussion, we started identifying areas that need to be fine-tuned in the logframe and implementing arrangements.

Shankar Kutty finished the day by talking about basic programme requirements for financial management and audit. Individual service providers (ICARDA, MISFA and FAO) asked many questions in relation to progress reports, audits, financial statements, budget allocations and limits of reallocations within categories, eligible expenditures and procurement from non-member countries. This was just an overview which will be covered in detail in working groups in the days to come.