May 21, 2018
Samia Akroush, Project Director, Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation
The Rural Economic Growth and Employment Project (REGEP) is an agricultural development project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), that started in 2015 and will run for six years.
The main objective of the project is to improve access to finance in rural areas in Jordan. This is achieved through building technical and competitive capacities of small farmers as well as small- and medium-sized agricultural companies. In addition, the project works on integrating smallholder farmers into value chains, and creating employment opportunities in rural areas for women and youth. Thus, REGEP contributes to economic growth by increasing incomes, and increasing agricultural exports of fruit and vegetables.
The target area of the project is five governorates in Northern Jordan; namely, Ajloun, Jarash, Al Balqa, Madaba and Al Mafraq. The project targets rural households in these governorates, especially those working in the agricultural sector with no stable income and no employed or economically active family members. Besides, the project also focuses on small and medium-sized agricultural companies.
REGEP project has two main components: the first one is the value chain and enterprise development, which aims to integrate small-farmers into the value chain, and build their technical capacity. This, in turn, will help create jobs in rural areas. This component focuses on the following crops: grapes, pomegranates, apples, olives, tomatoes, baby cucumber, okra, and medicinal and aromatic plants (oregano and sage).
The second main component is the rural finance, which aims to increase access to a range of appropriate financial products for the members of the target group, producers' associations and rural micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs.)
The technical capacity and competitiveness of smallholder farmers is being built through the Saving and Credit Groups (SCGs), the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and mentoring support. The project had already met 11% of its total outreach targets which includes 1306 members of 117 SCGs and a savings of JOD 265,000 (US$374,000). A majority of the SCGs members are women. The National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension (NCARE) has organized 37 FFS in the selected value chains with participation of 584 farmers of whom 27% are women who are actively participating in the horticulture crops in the Jordan Valley (please see below figure).
REGEP provides grants to support upgrading value chains, as well as business model innovation for small and medium enterprises. These grants aims to finance small-holder farmers, farmers associations, processors and exporters as they improve their business. This year, 2018, the project celebrated the donation of 100 grants with a total amount of US$ 250,000 over the 5 target governorates. These grants will be used for targeting poverty reduction through support to agri-businesses/ production. It is expected that these grants will provide 50 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job opportunity based on the assumption that every investment of US$ 5000 will great a one full time employment job opportunity. Also, the total number of FTE employment and income generating opportunities created by the members of the SCGs - especially youth and women - is estimated at 354 opportunities for 2017. The below figure shows the distribution of grant projects over the target governorates, type of business funded and women participation.
