Inclusion of Rural Youth in Poultry and Aquaculture Value Chains in Mali

Results

As of December 2021, the project has benefitted 1,135 people, of which 38% are women, across 49 producer-based organizations and has involved producer organizations, local banks and microfinance institutions, and other innovative financing arrangements and service providers. The projecthas    enabled 1,135 smallholder farmers to access funds along with extension services. Further, the project has constructed or rehabilitated 20 post-harvest facilities, improving production on 239.25 hectares of land, and has provided 1,025 smallholders with productivity enhancement support; 1,155 people, including 695 women, with improved nutrition services and products; and 1,050 people with access to direct employment, including 732 youth and 325 women. 
  
Additional funding in 2020 for a medium- to long-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated a workshop on the banking system and youth agricultural entrepreneurship to support rural youth in improving their entrepreneurial capacity. Additional funds supported the creation of four processing units for poultry and fish in areas of high demand, to promote public-private partnerships. The project also strengthened monitoring systems to collect information on the products of rural youth farms, the quantities marketed, and the income generated to allow youth to understand supply and demand and established contracts with health centers for training, support, and nutritional monitoring of youth and their families to better understand and improve beneficial nutrition habits.