ISLAMABAD – To reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change impacts and reduce poverty in Sindh’s coastal regions, the provincial government with the help of IFAD is launching Sindh coastal resilience project (SCRP), worth Rs 46 billion.
The project aims to build climate resilience, improve livelihoods, and reduce poverty in Sindh’s coastal districts of Badin, Sujawal,Thatta and it will be jointly funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and government of Sindh.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide Rs28 billion for the project, while the remaining will be funded through local resources, official documents available with The Nation reveal.
The project aims to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change impacts, such as floods, cyclones, and sea-level rise SCRP will be implemented over a seven-year period (FY 2024-25 to 2031- 32) starting in first quarter of 2025.
The proposed key interventions include the provision of productive assets and training to 30,000 households for economic graduation, implement vocational training and job market integration programmes for 43,000 young men and women, promote group enterprises linked to value chains, including off-farm businesses and service provision.
The objective of the project is to promote inclusive and resilient livelihoods for target farming and fishing communities and disadvantaged groups. This will be achieved through three outcomes: Improved production and productivity of diversified nutritious foods of organised groups of smallholder farmers and fisherfolk under climate smart agriculture and fisheries production plans leading to 4P based value chain development that facilitate integration with markets and financial services; Improved productive asset base for the ultra-poor and increased self-employment and employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups (youth, women, landless); A participatory, community owned and driven approach linked to an enabling policy and institutional environment that facilities access to financial resources and support services.
An estimated 196,000 households (1.0 million persons), almost 30 percent of the total rural households in the three districts, will directly and indirectly benefit from the project interventions in value chain development, community and value chain support infrastructure, access to credit and productive assets and vocational training. Smallholder farmers, fisherfolk and landless poor in 500 revenue villages will be engaged through 500 inclusive Village Organizations in first five years of project implementation (160 in Badin, 125 in Sujawal and 215 in Thatta).
The engagement with the VO will also attempt to map the local indigenous foods that are climate resilient and nutritionally superior, and work on a plan to explore its mainstreaming into diets of communities. Apart from agriculture, fisheries and livestock/dairy production groups, interest groups among the landless and youth will be promoted to earn incomes from provision of various inputs and output harvesting, processing, value addition and marketing.
The incremental approach is aimed at leading to a critical mass of producers of niche products and marketable surpluses in each region, confederated into producer organizations, to enable them to enter 4P (public private-producer partnerships) and contract farming agreements. Interestingly, despite ban on the purchase of new vehicles by the finance division, the sponsor of the project also included the procurement of four double cabins and several 1000cc/1300cc vehicles with the cost of Rs306 million in the PC-I.
The technical section of the planning commission has raised 17 observations, however majority of them were non complaint by the sponsor.
