REGIS-AG, Quarterly Report, FY2019 Quarter 1

Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel - Accelerated Growth (REGIS-AG)

QUARTERLY REPORT Quarter 1 FY 2019

October 1 – December 31, 2018

This annex to joint work plans, submitted for review by the United States Agency for International Development, was prepared by

CNFA under USAID Contract No. AID-625-C-14-00001, Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth Project. 1 Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth (REGIS-AG) Contract No. #AID-625-C-14-00001 Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth Project

Project Q1FY19 Report

(1 October 2018 – 31 December 2018)

REGIS-AG:

USAID Contract

No. AID-625-C-14-00001

Implemented by CNFA

Submitted to:

Patrick Smith

COR USAID/Senegal

11 February 2019

DISCLAIMER

The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the United States Government. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS ...... v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 1 PART 1 - PROGRAM DESCRIPTION ...... 6 1.1. REGIS-AG and the RISE initiative ...... 6 1.2. REGIS-AG Goal, Objectives, Expected Results and Intervention Areas ...... 6 1.3. Theory of change ...... 7 1.4. Implementation Partners ...... 7 PART 2 – OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT INTERVENTION STRATEGY ...... 8 2.1. Justification: Producers’ low level of market access ...... 8 2.2. The project strategy in brief: a value chain approach based on two pillars ...... 9 PART 3 – ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR FY19 ...... 11 3.1. Component 1 – Identify opportunities through value chain and end-market analysis ...... 12 3.2. Component 2 - Strengthening vertical and horizontal linkages in selected value chains...... 12 3.2.1. Cowpea value chain ...... 12 3.2.2. Poultry value chain ...... 19 3.2.3. Small ruminant value chain ...... 31 3.3. Component 3 - Strengthening input supply and other services and improving smallholders and agro- processors’ access to interconnected markets ...... 39 3.3.1. Cowpea inputs and agricultural services ...... 39 3.3.2. Animal Health Services ...... 44 3.4. Component 4 – Increasing access to finance, innovation, and private sector investment ...... 47 3.4.1. Functional literacy capacity building activities ...... 48 3.4.2. Access to finance facilitation activities ...... 49 3.5. Component 5 – Improving the enabling environment for local and regional private investment ...... 57 3.5.1. Improving the policy environment for private sector investment ...... 57 3.5.2. Mainstreaming gender and governance in REGIS-AG value chain development ...... 58 3.5.2.1. Gender specific complementary activities ...... 59 3.5.2.2. Governance specific complementary activities ...... 63 3.5.3. Strengthen resilience/disaster risk reduction (DRR) capacity of communities ...... 65 PART 4 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT ...... 65 4.1. Project staff count ...... 65 4.1.1. A stable staff count throughout FY18 with minimal turnover ...... 65

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4.1.2. Staff mobility ...... 66 4.2. Administration of offices ...... 67 4.3. Management activities ...... 68 4.4. Project Reporting and Public Communication ...... 69 4.5. Security ...... 69 PART 5 - PROJECT PERFORMANCE - Level of Achievement in FY18 Expected Outcomes and Performance Indicators ...... 70 5.1. Overview of REGIS-AG MEL System ...... 70 5.2. Activities carried out during FY18 ...... 70 5.3. Status of achievement of performance indicators at the end of FY18 ...... 73

ACRONYMS

A2N Association Nodde Nooto ADI Association des Distributeurs d’Intrants Agricoles du Niger AE Auxiliaire d’élevage AGED Association pour la Gestion de l’Environnement et le Développement AGIR Alliance Global pour la Résilience - Sahel Afrique de l’Ouest AGRODIA Association des Grossistes et Détaillants d’Intrants Agricoles du Burkina Faso AREN Association pour la Redynamisation de l'Elevage au Niger BDS Business Development Services CBO Community-Based Organizations CNFA Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture CERRA Centre Régional de Recherche Agronomique CILSS Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (Comité Permanent Inter-États de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel) COFENBAVI Confédération des Fédérations Nationales de la Filière Bétail/Viande des pays de l’Afrique de l’Ouest COP Chief of Party COR Contracting Officer’s Representative CRS Catholic Relief Services DCA USAID Development Credit Authority DFAP USAID Development Food Assistance Program EMMP Environmental Mitigation & Management Plan FBO Farmers’ Based Organization Fcfa Franc de la Communauté Financiére d’Afrique GIE Groupement d’Intérêt Economique IEE Initial Environmental Examination INERA Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles du Burkina Faso INRAN Institut National de Recherche Agricole du Niger IR Intermediate Result JPC Joint Planning Cell LAHIA Livelihoods, Agriculture and Health Interventions in Action DFAP (Save the Children) M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning MFI Micro-Finance Institution MOU Memorandum of Understanding MSME Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise NGO Non-Governmental/Non-Profit Organization ONV-BF Ordre national des Vétérinaires du Burkina Faso ONVN Ordre National des Vétérinaires du Niger OP/PO Organisations Paysannes/Producer groups PASADEM Projet d’Appui à la Sécurité Alimentaire et au Développement dans la région de Maradi (World Bank)

PASEL Programme d’Appui au Secteur de l’Elevage PERSUAP Pesticide Evaluation Report & Safe Use Action Plan PICS Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage PMP Performance Monitoring Plan PPAAO/WAAPP-Niger Programme de Productivité Agricole en Afrique de l’Ouest PRODEX Projet de Développement des Exportations des Produits Agro-Sylvo- Pastoraux au Niger (World Bank) PROFIL Projet des Filières Agricoles RCO Regional Contracting Officer REGIS-AG Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth REGIS-ER Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel - Enhanced Resilience RISE USAID Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced ROI Return On Investment SAP Système d’Alerte Précoce SAREL Sahel Resilience Learning SAWKI Mercy Corps DFAP SIMA System of Agricultural Marketing Information SNV Netherlands Development Organization SVPP Service Vétérinaires Privés de Proximité UEMOA West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (Union Economique et Monétaire West Africaine) USAID United States Agency for International Development USD US Dollar USG US Government VC Value Chain VCA Value Chain Approach VCS Value Chain Study ViM Victoire sur la Malnutrition (Projet) VSF-B Vétérinaires Sans Frontières-Belgique VVV Vaccinateur Villageois de Volaille

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth (REGIS-AG) project aims to increase the resilience of vulnerable populations in the Sahel region by increasing the incomes of vulnerable households and communities in agro-pastoralist and marginal agricultural zones of Niger and Burkina Faso. The project is achieving this goal through five components that aim to upgrade the competitiveness and inclusiveness of pro- poor value chains (cowpea, small ruminant and poultry).

Component 1 focuses on carrying out detailed analyses in the target value chains to identify opportunities for upgrading product quality and improving stakeholders’ operations. No such study was carried out during this quarter.

Under Component 2: Strengthening vertical and horizontal linkages, the following activities were completed across the three target value chains during Quarter 1 FY19

In the cowpea value chain, the REGIS-AG team focused on the following activities:

(i) A total of 1,999 cowpea producers were engaged in warrantage activities across the two countries: In Niger, 1,327 members from 63 Producer Organizations (POs) made provisional commitments for the stock of 495.91 metric tons of agricultural products in 62 warehouses. These commitments followed 3 planning and training workshops that brought together 100 actors from the cowpea value chain. In Burkina Faso, 16 one-day sensitization and planning workshops were held in the three target regions. Following the workshops, field missions conducted with representatives of the MFI documented that 672 farmers have already stored 208.21 metric tons of agricultural in 27 warehouses. The project expects more grains to be stored in Q2FY19.

(ii) Conducting refresher training on the use of PICS bags and warehouse management in Niger. A total of 99 warrantage planning and training workshop participants were trained on the use of PICs bags and warehouse management during the workshops. No training was conducted in Burkina Faso.

(iii) Facilitating the participation of POs in the Zinder Saboua fairs on December 18 in Niger. In total, 21 project beneficiaries earned 1,110,900 FCFA ($2,057) at the event, including sales of 710,000 FCFA ($1,315) of processed cowpea, and 103,350 FCFA ($191) of non-processed cowpea.

In the poultry value chain, the project focused on the following four activities: (i) Three business cluster evaluation workshops were conducted to assess the level of implementation of commercial transactions between POs and buyers, and to identify challenges to be addressed through assessments made by the actors themselves. In Niger, 12 clusters (involving 291 participants from 74 POs) and 12 buyers were evaluated. In Burkina Faso, only one cluster was evaluated. More will be evaluated in Q2FY19. The most common challenge in both countries is noncompliance with agreements, in which producers sell some of their animals to buyers outside the cluster. More formal arrangements are planned along with more rigorous monitoring by the project team. (ii) Poultry and guinea fowl production training was conducted for 307 members of REGIS-AG beneficiary POs in Niger.

(iii) An information and awareness campaigns on vaccination and poultry deworming was launched in Niger. The campaign was led by regional livestock directorates and the regional unions of producers

and service providers (URPF / S). The campaign focused on the importance of poultry vaccination against Newcastle disease, and reached 2,566 members of 89 POs. Following the campaign, 64 (76%) of the 89 PO members vaccinated their flocks (a total of 14,766 birds). Considering an average cost of 50 FCFA ($0.09) per vaccinated bird, and assuming an 80% survival rate for vaccinated birds at a sale price of 3,000 FCFA for a live bird, this activity represents a saving of approximately 34,723,600 FCFA ($64,303) for participating producers. (iv) Beneficiaries were identified for the pilot guinea fowl promotion activities. including: 7 beneficiaries for incubation units, 30 beneficiaries for year-round egg production, and 10 beneficiaries for egg production in all seasons. The selection was carried out in collaboration with research partners National Institute Agricultural Research Institute of Niger (INRAN) and University of Tillabéri. Procurement of the kits, distribution, and coaching of the promoters will be completed in Q2FY19 in collaboration with BENALYA. BENALYA is a private Nigerien firm that is engaged in the dissemination of solar energy technologies appropriate for the development of poultry and agropastoral production. BENALYA also targets engaging young boys and girls out of school in their activities. This collaboration will be formalized through an MOU. This partnership will allow REGIS- AG to integrate solar technology into businesses, share costs on the activity with BENALYA, and leverage the firm’s social capital to help the link businesses to financial institutions in Niger.

In the small ruminant value chain, REGIS-AG focused on two activities: (i) Organizing evaluation workshops for 11 small ruminant business clusters (as described for poultry clusters above). In Niger, the project organized 3 business cluster evaluation workshops (one in each region) that brought together 183 participants, including 172 POs members, 7 traders, 1 butcher and 3 representatives of the inter-profession of livestock, meat, hides and skins (IP-BVCP). The workshops evaluated 8 clusters. In Burkina Faso, REGIS-AG organized 2 business cluster evaluation workshops with 143 participants in East and Sahel regions to evaluate 3 clusters. The evaluation of the clusters in the Center North region is planned for Q2FY19. (ii) Training producers in commercial fattening in Niger; the project organized training workshops in 9 locations for 345 participants from 59 POs.

Under Component 3, which focuses on improving access to input supply and other services, the project carried out the following three activities: (i) Continuing to facilitate access to agricultural inputs, including PICS bags, through business linkage developments. In Burkina Faso, the project held 3 regional workshops to facilitate access to agricultural inputs, particularly PICS bags, for participants engaged in the FY19 warrantage activity. These workshops brought together 113 people: including 71 representatives of POs, 31 distributors of PICS bags and/or agricultural inputs, 8 cowpea traders, 1 MFI representative, and 2 service providers. A representative of the University of Perdue also participated as a facilitator to discuss PICS bags. (ii) Strengthening formal networks of input distributors through technical trainings. In Niger, the program trained 96 input distributors on one of the 6 project modules for input distributor training (Module 6: knowledge REGIS-AG technical staff, in collaboration with the relevant public sector technical services. In Burkina Faso, REGIS-AG organized a 5-day training on the technical knowledge of agricultural inputs and the management of agro-dealer shops for 17 input distributors who did not previously 2

participate in the project’s training on the same topics in FY17 and FY18. The training covered all 6 project modules1 to meet the life of project target on agro dealer training. (iii) Facilitating the drafting of national action plans for the development of the seed sub-sector in Niger and the seed and fertilizer sub-sectors in Burkina Faso. In Niger, the project received a copy of the first draft action plan from the consultant for review by REGIS-AG, USAID and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. In Burkina Faso, the project began the contracting process for the consulting firms that were selected to develop the seed and fertilizer sub-sectors action plans.

For animal health services, the project focused on the following activities: (i) Recruiting a veterinarian for the new Madarounfa SVPP in Niger. (ii) Selecting 30 new AEs for the Madarounfa SVPP in Niger and facilitated their training on the 10 modules required for AE training by the government of Niger. (iii) Conducting refresher training covering the 10 modules for 84 AEs in the Tillabéri, Mirriah and Magaria SVPPs in Niger.

Under the project’s Component 4: Increasing access to finance, innovation, and private sector investment, activities focused on functional literacy and facilitating access to finance. The FY18 functional literacy campaign conducted in 80 centers was evaluated in Niger (50 centers opened during FY16-FY17 and 30 centers opened in FY18). The success rate was found to be 66% in the 50 FY16-17 centers, and 58% in the 30 newer FY18 centers. Access to finance activities focused on the following: (i) Monitoring disbursement and repayment of credit for actors involved in warrantage: In Niger, the project recorded credit needs of 63 cowpea production POs totallling 81,143,540 FCFA ($150,266). In Burkina Faso, 564 cowpea producers in East and Central-North received 22 867 000 FCFA in loans from the Caisse Populaire. Monitoring missions in the Sahel will take place in Q2FY19. (ii) Monitoring of disbursement and repayment of credit for actors involved in business clusters and those engaged in warrantage: In Niger, the project monitored the repayment of credit received in previous years and noted an encouraging trend in reimbursements: • Only 235,750 FCFA ($437) of the 3,450,000 FCFA ($6,389) loan MECAT Maradi placed during FY17 and FY18 remained outstanding at the end Q1FY19 • 2,104,596 FCFA ($3,897) of the 9,580,000 FCFA ($17,741) BAGRI loaned to processors during FY17 and FY18 remained outstanding. • 1,256,440 FCFA ($2,327) of the 13,800,000 FCFA ($25,556) loan BAGRI placed during FY17 and FY18 with small ruminant traders remained outstanding.

1 Not enough agro dealers were trained on module 1-5 in FY17 and on module 6 in Q4FY18 to meet the life of project target on agro dealer training.

During the monitoring visits, the project found that • Using his support plan and a World Food Program order of cowpea, a trader was able to get 6 loans from BAGRI Magaria totaling of 145,050,000 FCFA ($268,611). • 4 POs in the small ruminant value chain were able to obtain loans for animal fattening from KOKARI in Tillabéri totaling 5,250,000 FCFA ($9,722). The project also worked with 247 poultry stakeholders Zinder region including 2 poultry processors, to submit loan applications to the CRA Zinder for an amount of 9,350,000 FCFA ($17,315).

As in Niger, a similar encouraging trend in reimbursements was observed in Burkina Faso: • 11 POs of the Bouroum-Nagbingou cluster that received input credit from the Caisse Populaire in FY18 in Central-North repaid their entire loan with interest (9,116,500 FCFA or $16,882). • 3 POs of the Kabaya poultry cluster that received 10,902,000 FCFA ($20,181) in loans from Caisse Populaire in FY18 in the poultry portfolio in East region continue to make their payments on time.

(iii) Providing technical assistance to KOKARI in Niger for refinancing opportunities with Oikocredit, a social impact investor and worldwide cooperative with over four decades of experience in promoting sustainable development through investments. After first contact with the Oikocredit Benin desk, the bank requested and received documents to be able to assess KOKARI for refinancing. The project plans to intensify support to KOKARI in the pursuit of the opportunity in Q2FY19.

(iv) Evaluating the technical and financial offers service providers submitted in response to call for proposals made under the 3S Funds. The proposal evaluation process in the one outlined in the USAID-approved 3S Fund management manual. During Q1FY19, it involved: (i) a desk evaluation of 122 proposals (35 in Niger and 87 in Burkina Faso) by an evaluation committee the project set up, (ii) due diligence field visits to 22 preselected service providers to validate information presented in the proposals (11 service providers having submitted 23 proposals in Niger and 11 service providers having submitted 45 proposals in Burkina Faso), (iii) compilation of information from both evaluations (committee and field). Final selection and contracting will be done in Q2FY19 as well as provision of the services required t the POs. The following activities were carried out under Component 5: Improving the enabling environment for local and regional private investment: • REGIS-AG supported the market management committees at the Barsalogho and Pissila markets in Burkina Faso. • The project conducted field missions in Niger to monitor the results of the community dialogue sessions held in FY16 and FY17. The monitoring visits paid close attention to implementation progress on action plans aiming promote women’s empowerment. The action plan implementation rates average 77% in Zinder, 75% in Maradi, and 59% in Tillabéri. In Burkina Faso, gender-related activities emphasized women’s inclusion in accessing finance, focusing particularly on collateral guarantees. • To improve PO governance, the project continued to support new GIEs in Niger by helping them obtain official documents and implement action plans.

• To improve disaster risk reduction (DRR), the project finalized the analysis of the data collected in FY18 from 445 producers in 20 communes of Niger and Burkina Faso for the preparation of a contingency plan for destocking small ruminants in the event of a crisis. A draft plan will be shared for review in Q2FY19.

During the reporting period, project performance monitoring activities focused on (i) building an online database, (ii) updating the M&E database, and (iii) conducting the annual survey and (iv) updating the indicator performance table.

In terms of project staffing, REGIS-AG started FY19 with 73 employees distributed in the seven (07) project offices. Six (06) of the 10 vacant positions (mainly due to the departure of SNV employees after the termination of SNV’s subcontract with CNFA) were filled and recruitment for the remaining four (04) is underway. The project continued to operate with 7 vehicles and 14 motorcycles distributed as described in the table below. Staff mobility using motorcycles continues to be a challenge due to long distances to cover, poor road conditions, especially during the raining season, and issues of insecurity. The employees were asked to use hired vehicles. The main challenge in project staffing will continue to be minimizing staff turnover in the final year of the project, and keeping the team focused on assigned duties and responsibilities. This point is particularly accentuated given the launch of new projects in both countries with longer periods of performance.

In addition, the security situation in the ZOI was a major consideration during Q1FY19.

Other key management activities carried out during the quarter included: • Weekly project planning/review meetings with staff in Burkina Faso and Niamey; • Weekly skype meetings with the CNFA backstopping team in Washington, DC; • Multiple meetings with the COP, the DCOP and Project Manager to monitor activity implementation in the field and to discuss various strategic orientations; • Multiple Project Managers’ meetings were held with staff in field offices across both countries during which implementation of activities, challenges, successes and strategy were discussed; • Multiple coordination meetings with the project subcontract partners; • Critical meetings with staff to clarify the project value chain development and access to finance strategies; • Multiple email and face-to-face exchanges between the COP and the COR occurred. Though generally these meetings occur on an hoc basis, these exchanges are highly appreciated by the project team as they continue to be a critical source of guidance and orientation that improves project performance. These meetings were complemented with support from the Agriculture Officers of USAID Niger and Burkina Faso.

PART 1 - PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1.1. REGIS-AG and the RISE initiative REGIS-AG, conceived as a cornerstone project under USAID’s Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced (RISE) initiative, aims to increase the resilience2 of vulnerable populations through upgrading the competitiveness and inclusiveness of three value chains (cowpea, poultry and small ruminants). On February 3, 2014, during the high-level launch of the United Nations’ Sahel Humanitarian Response Plan in Rome, USAID announced the RISE Initiative, which initially committed more than $130 million over the first two years of a five-year effort to build resilience to the recurrent crisis in the Sahel. RISE, based on joint analysis and planning, brings together humanitarian and development assistance to address the root causes of persistent vulnerability. Through RISE, USAID made a strong commitment to promote long-term food security and improved nutrition by increasing agricultural production and increasing incomes from that production.

The RISE strategy guides the implementation of four programs: SAREL, a Sahel learning agenda; REGIS-ER, a multi-sector resilience program; REGIS-AG, a focused value chain program; and the DFAPs, development food assistance programs. REGIS-AG will directly contribute to the USAID Sahel Joint Planning Cell (JPC) Strategy Results Framework, specifically to Objective 1: Increased and Sustainable Economic Wellbeing, IR 2: Intensified production and marketing for livestock and high potential crops, and Sub IR 2.2: High potential value chains strengthened.

1.2. REGIS-AG Goal, Objectives, Expected Results and Intervention Areas On January 28, 2015, USAID signed a $34.4 million contract with Washington-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) for the implementation of a new project: Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth (REGIS-AG). REGIS-AG is a five-year project focusing on strengthening the competitiveness and inclusiveness of the cowpea, small ruminant, and poultry value chains in agro-pastoralist and marginal agricultural zones of Niger and Burkina Faso to increase the incomes of vulnerable households, thereby enhancing the resilience of families and communities to shocks such as drought, conflict, and economic crises.

The target outcome of REGIS-AG is to increase income from sheep, goats, poultry and cowpeas by 50% among target households, which will, in turn, contribute to reducing the depth of poverty by 20%. REGIS- AG will reach 270,000 direct beneficiaries.

Program implementation is managed through five integrated components: • Component 1: Identifying opportunities through value chain and end-market analysis • Component 2: Strengthening vertical and horizontal value chain linkages and relationships in selected value chains • Component 3: Strengthening input supply and other supporting services and improving smallholder and agro-pastoralist access to these interconnected markets • Component 4: Increasing access to finance, innovation and private sector investment • Component 5: Improving the enabling environment for local and regional private sector investment

2 USAID defines resilience as: the ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth (USAID, 2012). 6 1.3. Theory of change The underlying theory behind the project is that the resilience of people, households, communities and systems in agro-pastoralist and marginal agriculture zones in Burkina Faso and Niger will be significantly enhanced by increasing sustainable economic well-being (defines by household income, food access, livelihood assets and adaptive capacity), strengthening institutions and governance, and improving health and nutrition. Those who are chronically vulnerable will adapt and become resilient and those who have adapted and become resilient will become further economically secure and strive.

Increased sustainable economic well-being will be achieved by scaling-up, deepening and expanding upon resilient adaptations and innovations already underway. Facilitating the scaling-up, deepening and expansion of these adaptations and innovations will also create an avenue for inclusive economic growth that will further increase sustainable economic well-being and further enhance resilience.

Stronger institutions and governance will provide a critical source of stability that both constitutes and creates resilience. It will also provide an enabling environment needed to facilitate inclusive economic growth, and increased and sustainable economic being.

Initiating and sustaining this positive dynamic of change requires (a) working with and investing in entire communities (from the most vulnerable to those who are striving), (b) bolstering the resilience of the social, economic and natural resource systems in which they operate, and (c) using an integrated and comprehensive approach to gender that recognizes women as innovative and dynamic change agents, addresses gender disparities inequalities, and leverages (economic, political, and socio-cultural) attributes, constraints and opportunities associated with being male or female.

1.4. Implementation Partners REGIS-AG is implemented by a CNFA-led consortium of international and local NGOs. From Fy15 to FY18, the international NGOs were CRS, SNV and VSF. At the end of FY18, SNV was dropped from the consortium. The local NGOs were and still are A2N and AGED in Burkina Faso, and Karkara and AREN in Niger. REGIS- AG implements innovative “pull” strategies linking smallholder groups to markets.

From FY15 to FY18, REGIS-AG worked in in close collaboration and synergy with the Enhanced Resilience Cooperative Agreement REGIS-ER, the learning agenda procurement Sahel Resilience Learning (SAREL) project implemented by the Mitchell Group, Food for Peace (FFP) Development Food Aid Programs (DFAP)3, and non-USAID funded projects4 in Burkina Faso and Niger. REGIS-ER, DFAP and the non-USAID funded projects focused on production-level “push” strategies, in order to move vulnerable households from subsistence-level farming to commercial farming and increased food security. To achieve its objectives, REGIS- AG worked as expected in tandem with these projects. REGIS-ER and other partners (in and outside the RISE consortium) focused on the supply side, supporting the production at the farm levels while REGIS-AG

This included (a) Livelihoods, Agriculture and Health Interventions in Action (LAHIA) implemented by a consortium led by Save the Children International; Sawki implemented by a Mercy Corps-led consortium; and Program for Support to Household Food Security (PASAM-TAI) implemented by a CRS-led consortium in Niger, and (b) Programme Faso implemented by a CRS-led consortium, and Victoire sur la Malnutrition (ViM) Project implemented by an ACDI/VOCA- led consortium in Burkina Faso. 4 These are: IFAD-funded Projet d’Appui aux Filières Agricoles (PROFIL) by the governments in Burkina Faso, World Bank- funded Projet Régional d’Appui au Pastoralisme au Sahel (PRAPS) implemented by the government in Burkina Faso and Niger, and World Food Program projects. 7 helps link their farmers to markets. In other words, by design, REGIS-AG worked with their beneficiaries to link them to markets.

By the end of FY18, all the DFAPs had come to an end and a new generation of FFP projects called DFSA was awarded and started in early October 2019. The project has not yet developed a collaborative framework with these new projects, but plans to hold coordination/planning meetings with the DFSA partners in Q2FY19. In addition, REGIS-ER intervention strategy changed to focus on ensuring the sustainability of its core activities by transferring their implementation to communes and coaching these communes to strengthen their ability in carrying out activities they have limited experience implementing. No collaborative activity was organized with REGIS-ER during Q1FY19. A meeting the project held with REGIS-ER during the quarter to discuss areas of collaboration revealed that the two projects can only collaborate indirectly through communes.

PART 2 – OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT INTERVENTION STRATEGY

2.1. Justification: Producers’ low level of market access REGIS-AG interventions focus on fostering inclusive economic development and competitiveness in the cowpea, poultry and small ruminant value chains in Burkina Faso and Niger. Through market-oriented, pro- poor interventions, REGIS-AG has the goal to reach 50,000 households and have the following impacts: (a) increasing household incomes by 50%, and (b) reducing poverty of vulnerable households by 20%, thereby strengthening household resilience to shocks. There are two sides to what these objectives imply. On the demand side, this implies changing the development trajectory of small marginalized producers by identifying opportunities within the value chain and demand in the markets (VC/End Market studies) and acting on what is required (work plan implementation) to shift these producers away from selling to collectors/intermediaries in thin local markets only, in favor of selling their products to more profitable markets within their country and abroad on fairer terms, which will lift them out of poverty. On the supply side, REGIS-AG sister project REGIS-ER and other partners (in and outside the RISE consortium) supported the production at the village and farm levels until the end of FY18. Consequently, REGIS-AG could not achieve its objectives without close and coordinated efforts with these projects; only together can these projects succeed in developing inclusive market systems that are resilient and beneficial to all.

To foster the inclusive economic development and competitiveness in the target value chains achieve this transformation, REGIS-AG interventions are focused on bringing about the kinds of systemic-level changes that would facilitate market linkages and product and process upgrading or allow them to take place at scale. Such interventions address systemic issues which were identified in the value chain and end market analyses carried out at the beginning of the project in FY15. The analysis concluded that marginalized producers (especially women) are consistently constrained from entering the targeted value chains or fully participating in their development, and links between the different segments in the various target value chains are weak. In particular, producers have limited access to markets and basic services which limits opportunities the farming populations in rural areas have to effectively participate in economic activities.

8 Households raising small ruminants usually sell to individual consumers through village collectors5, or to a lesser extent make direct sales in local markets. Until 2016, at least 95% of Niger's small ruminant exports were destined for Nigeria. However, most of the trade is not recorded; there are also exports to Burkina Faso and beyond. Since then, as a result of the devaluation of the Nigerian currency (naira), this trend has been reversed. The project team also noted that for cowpea, small farmers who are targeted by REGIS-AG (and therefore by REGIS-ER and DFAPs) have low bargaining power due to their limited production and the poor quality of their products. The marketing of cowpea is done informally and generally to the detriment of producers and processors. Yet, there is an important international market; but this market has requirements in terms of norms and standards that are still unfamiliar to exporters and local producers.

2.2. The project strategy in brief: a value chain approach based on two pillars Given producers’ low level of market access, REGIS-AG has placed particular emphasis on improving access to the market and producers’ ability to interact productively and proactively with other actors in competitive markets (market readiness). The improvement in market access requires the aggregation of outputs from individual farmers at a PO level6 and the strengthening of vertical and horizontal links (or relationships among actors in the value chain) by facilitating removal of the constraints that limit the relationships and linkages between the various actors in the value chain. In its facilitation, REGIS-AG uses a value chain approach (VCA) and recognizes that the demand-drive approach is critical for success in value chain development. As a result, REGIS-AG Value Chain development begins by focusing on the nature and character of demand with an intervention strategy that is based on two essential pillars: • Facilitating the development and institutionalization (by municipalities, organizations of actors and/or other decentralized services of the State) of sales platforms for cowpea, small ruminants and poultry products during periods of high demand and which are close to stakeholders. For cowpeas, the platforms are warrantage schemes and fairs in communes. For small ruminants and poultry, the platforms are the fairs during Tabaski, Ramadan, Independence Day, and end of year, when their demand and associated prices are very high. For small ruminants, in addition to fairs organized in communes, the REGIS-AG project also facilitates the participation of Burkina Faso and Niger stakeholders in fairs organized in West Africa to diversify their sales opportunities and exploit the peculiarities of their breeds of sheep and goats which are highly appreciated in these markets. The project support focuses on strengthening the capacities of these organizations through coaching and on-the-job training to enhance the likelihood of the sustainability of these platforms. • Facilitating business linkages development by offering stakeholders in the cowpea, small ruminants and poultry value chains business-to-business (B2B) platforms for establishing commercial relations. Exchanges between producers and buyers at the B2B sessions that results buying and selling

5 They are local buyers who walk through villages and rural markets to buy from producers directly or indirectly. In the case of direct collection, the collector acts for himself. He has his own capital, buys and resells to wholesalers; this is the main mode of collection, particularly for small ruminants and poultry. In the case of indirect collection, he acts as an intermediary for wholesalers. In the latter case, the collector receives money from a wholesaler and he is responsible for grouping the products in batches large enough to be transferred to the wholesaler for a salary or a commission. 6 The aggregation of individual farmers’ outputs at a cooperative or association level is essential because grouping reduces the cost of food and services (including financial and animal health services), creates economies of scale, and contributes to increasing the efficiency of livestock producers.

9 intentions are supported by the project based on an action plan that focuses on removing the constraints that may limit the success of the transaction. The project support focuses on capacity building in functional literacy, production, entrepreneurship7, group governance, gender integration, and access to finance. Two types of linkages development interventions or activities emerge from the B2B sessions: linkage to be developed between a set of producers and a buyer (trader or processor) and linkage between a set of traders and a processor. The actors involved in any of the linkages to be developed constitute a business transaction cluster or a cluster of relationships. Table 3 shows that, through this process and by the end of FY18, REGIS-AG was able to develop 53 business clusters that link 388 POs, 41 traders and 31 butchers or processors. Table 1 : REGIS-AG business clusters by value chain and by country

# of # of traders # of processors # of agro- Total # of Value chain # of PO Clusters or collectors or butchers dealers support plans Burkina Faso 25 152 21 14 0 187 • Cowpea 11 51 11 7 - 69 − Center North 7 32 7 2 - 41 − East 3 17 3 2 - 22 − Sahel 1 2 1 3 - 6 • Poultry 6 48 4 5 - 57 − Center North 2 20 1 1 - 22 − East 2 11 2 2 - 15 − Sahel 2 17 1 2 - 20 • Small ruminants 8 53 6 2 - 61 − Center North 0 0 0 0 - 0 − East 5 22 4 1 - 27 − Sahel 3 31 2 1 - 34 Niger 28 236 20 17 5 278 • Cowpea 8 84 7 10 5 106 − Maradi 1 39 1 5 1 46 − Tillabéri 3 19 3 3 3 28 − Zinder 4 26 3 2 1 32 • Poultry 12 55 6 6 - 67 − Maradi 5 24 3 2 - 29 − Tillabéri 4 17 2 2 - 21 − Zinder 3 14 1 2 - 17 • Small ruminants 8 97 7 1 - 105 − Maradi 3 48 2 1 - 51 − Tillabéri 3 24 3 0 - 27 − Zinder 2 25 2 0 - 27 Burkina + Niger 53 388 41 31 5 465 • Cowpea 19 135 18 17 5 175 • Poultry 18 103 10 11 - 124

7 The training in entrepreneurship focuses on business management skills development (simple accounting, procurement, cost calculation, price fixing, marketing, inventory management, and human resource management) and introduction to business plan development and analysis. 10 # of # of traders # of processors # of agro- Total # of Value chain # of PO Clusters or collectors or butchers dealers support plans • Small ruminants 16 150 13 3 - 166

With this strategy, REGIS-AG envisages that, at the end in FY20, the project will have developed a market- ready group of POs that will have established business relationships with specific buyers and will have internalized / adopted the practice of setting up and achieving production objectives that include precise quantities for sales to specific buyers and/or in market platforms (fairs) set up by municipalities or any other appropriate organization during periods of high demand. As they become more efficient in terms of income generation and food security, a growing number of POs will adopt these practices, thereby strengthening their resilience to shocks.

Clearly, REGIS-AG workshops for developing market linkages between value chain actors (sellers and buyers) are the central pillar of the project intervention strategy. While they are central to the short term results of the project, they also have a potential of becoming essential for long term growth of the value chains if their organization can be sustained overtime. There are however two realities to consider when thinking about what the project exit strategy with this approach should be:

• B2B sessions organized thus far clearly demonstrated that the level of production REGIS-AG beneficiary POs can mobilize are too small for potential buyers’ demand. Because many of these buyers already have their suppliers, there must be enough incentive to keep them interested if they are to continue doing business in B2B events. Chiefly among the potential incentivizing factors are product quality, the reliability of the steadiness of the supply (which depends in large part on the productivity of producers, their commercial orientation and ability to aggregate large enough quantities) and their capacity to upgrade their operation to take advantage of business opportunities (which the project is helping achieve through their support plan).

• The fact is that the level of sophistication of REGIS-AG beneficiaries imposes the provision of substantial support and coaching to help them internalize a reasonable commercial orientation. For any mechanism that will be set up to sustain B2B events to be successful, it has to have enough human and financial resources for supporting producers in ways discussed in the work plan. As in the case of fairs, the project believes that the Regional Chambers of Agriculture8 (CRA) and value chain interprofessional organizations (IP) are the most appropriate groups to organize B2B events for their members in the long-term. To build their capacity, they are involved in all business workshop development the project organizes. However, given that REGIS-AG only had 2 full years of B2B events, these beneficiaries must be supported over a much longer period of time to be able to effectively organize these events by themselves. PART 3 – ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR FY19

The previous REGIS-AG implementation plan was structured by project partners it was collaborating with. For Q1FY19, given that such partnerships could not be established as discussed in section 1.3, the present report is structured by project component.

8 The Regional Chambers of agriculture (CRA) are public institutions created by law to represent the interest of the agricultural professions in their territorial jurisdiction. 11 3.1. Component 1 – Identify opportunities through value chain and end- market analysis Under the project’s Component 1, REGIS-AG focuses on carrying out detailed analyses in the target value chains to identify opportunities for catalyzing necessary upgrading of product quality and stakeholders’ operations. After the completion of the initial project inception studies in FY15 (Value Chain and End Market Analyses, Gender Assessment, etc.), additional complementary analyses are carried out either to deepen understanding of issues or to refine project strategies.

For this reporting period, no such study was carried out. In FY18, the project carried out three (03) studies that describe the current status of the seed sub-sector in Niger and the seed and fertilizer sub-sectors in Burkina Faso by identifying the challenges that hinder their development and by highlighting the approaches / practices of seed subsidies used by the partners. The reports served as a basis for the national forum that were held on April 4-6 in Niamey, and 10-12 July in Ouagadougou. For each of the seed and fertilizer sub- sector studies, a two-year action plan must be developed in collaboration with the ministry in charge of agriculture to address the challenges identified and implement the forum recommendations. During the reporting period, the development of the action plan for the Niger seed sub-sector development was carried. Details are presented in section 3.3.3 of the present report. 3.2. Component 2 - Strengthening vertical and horizontal linkages in selected value chains

This section of the quaterly report presents technical activities the project team carried out in Q1FY19. Under the project’s Component 2, REGIS-AG focuses on improving market access and aggregation functions by strengthening vertical and horizontal linkages or relationships among actors in the selected value chains. The vertical linkages are strengthened by facilitating the development of buying and selling relationships to drive innovations and upgrading of products and/or processes. Horizontal linkages are developed through cooperatives, associations and informal groups that lower the cost of agro-inputs and services (including financial services), create economies of scale, and contribute to increased efficiency.

3.2.1. Cowpea value chain

REGIS-AG cowpea value chain activities during Q1FY19 were focused on: (i) implementing the FY19 warrantage activity, (ii) conducting refresher training on the use of PICS bags and warehouse management, and (iii) facilitating the participation of POs cowpea fairs.

Activity 4: Facilitate the organization of warrantage schemes for cowpea and cereals in Burkina Faso and Niger

a) Sub-activity 2: Planning of the warrantage In Niger, 1,327 PO members plan to store 495.91 metric tons of products in 62 warehouses In Niger, the FY19 warrantage activity began with cowpea chain value chain coordinators touring their areas of intervention in the regions to sensitize and inform POs about the upcoming warrantge, and then to collect information on the POs interested in participating in the FY19 warrantage or group sales, quantities of cowpeas they plan to commit. Based on the quantities the project determined the number of PICS bags

12 required. During they tours, they also visit warehouses proposed by the PO to assess their acceptability for warrrantage. Using the data collated, the project organized three (03) 4-day workshops in Tillabéri and Maradi (26 - 30 November), and then in Zinder (28 November - 1 December) during which participants assessed the FY18 warrantage activity, discussed the planning or roadmap for the FY19 warrantage, and were trained on the use of PICS bags

These planning and training workshops brought together 100 actors from the cowpea value chain. This includes the state deconcentrated technical services (Regional Directorates of Agriculture, Commerce, the 3N Initiative and the regional chambers of agriculture), 1,327 farmers (625 men, 702 women) representing 63 PO, 6 traders, 7 agro dealers, 8 representatives of four (04) MFIs, 12 representatives of the state deconcentrated technical services (STDs), and 3 REGIS-ER staff, as detailed in the table below. At the end of the workshops, 1,327 cowpea producers represented by 63 PO members provisionally agreed to participate in the FY19 warrantage activity.

Table 2 : Distribution of in warrantage workshops participants by region, Niger

Number of farmers the Number of participants POs represent Region Agro MFIs REGIS- PO Total Traders STDs Total men women dealers staff9 ER staff members Tillabéri 32 2 2 3 4 2 19 296 129 167 Maradi 37 2 2 3 4 0 26 773 345 428 Zinder 30 2 3 2 4 1 18 258 151 107 Total 99 6 7 8 12 3 63 1,327 625 702

When assessing the FY18 warrantage, participants deplored the delay in the disbursement of funds and the high interest rate of loans. In order to reduce delays in the implementation of warrantage activity, the workshops clearly defined all the steps and the roles of the different parties involved in the process, as well as a clear agenda that served as a roadmap for the activity. In addition, the following recommendations were made: • Improvements of the conditioning of the grains stored in the warehouses should be sustained further improved; • The project and MFI should organize timely visits of stocks; • Warehouses should be double locked after signing contract; • The warrantage of seeds should be avoided; • The project should intensify information sharing on availability of stocks among potential buyers.

9 They represent one MFI in Tillabéri (Kokari), 3 in Maradi (MACAT, TANADI, and Mutuelle de Mayayi) and two in Zinder (TANADI and KOKARI). 13 The warrantage activity planning consisted in the following: • Making a list of POs which are still committed to participating in warrantage, and updating the quantities of cowpea to be mobilized, and the number of PICS bags needed; • Updating the volume of credit needed. • Adopting a clear, detailed and mutually-agreed upon roadmap with a calendar of tasks by region which includes dates for each task, roles of stakeholders (projects, MFIs, POs, PICS bags distributors, traders) from the placement of stocks into warehouses through the repayment of credit as well as plans for an evaluation of the operation. A key task in this process is the periodic monitoring of (i) beneficiaries, (ii) stores, (iii) market prices, (iv) marketing of warranted cowpeas and/or group sales, and (v) repayment of credit. Emphasis was placed on the importance of respect for the roadmap by POs and MFIs. The state technical services highlighted the need for contracts specifying that the sale of released stocks would be at the market price.

In total, the 63 POs made provisional commitments to put 495.91 tons of agricultural products into warrantage: 227.2 tons of cowpea grain, 4.55 tons of cowpea seeds, 165.5 tons millet grain, 4.7 tons millet seeds, 12 tons sorghum grain, 0.4 tons sorghum seeds, 52.28 tons of peanuts, 28.8 tons tiger nuts (or yellow nutsedge) and 0.48 tons of sesame. For details on the amount of credit extended to POs, see Part 4 of this report.

Table 3 : Quantity of grains producers plan to store for warrantage FY19 at the end of Q1, Niger

Quantity of Product (metric tons) Region Cowpea Cowpea Millet Millet Sorghu Sorghu Peanuts Tiger Sesame grain seeds grain seeds m grain m seeds grains nuts grains Maradi 166.1 0 124.5 0 11 0 24.64 28.8 0 Tillabéri 27.8 4.55 26 4.7 1 0.4 1.48 0 0.48 Zinder 33.3 0 15 0 0 0 26.16 0 0 Total 227.2 4.55 165 4.7 12 0.4 52.28 28.8 0.48

During the workshops, REGIS-AG administered a refresher training to all participants on the use of PICS bags (see sub-activity 3 below for more details).

Throughout the warrantage activity period, the project monitored the price of cowpea throughout the quarter. Price data were collected from ReComs managers and producer organizations by cowpea value chain coordinators and the marketing manager. Data were based on the following markets: Balleyara in Tillabéri, Maradi Sabo Machi Commune and Maradi Commune, and Zinder City Cereal Markets. Price monitoring showed that the price of cowpea per kilogram ranged from 280 FCFA ($ 0.52) to 300 FCFA ($ 0.56) in October (a slight decrease from September). In November, one kilogram of white cowpea sold for between 270 FCFA ($0.50) and 280 FCFA ($0.52), while the same size bag for red cowpea sold for 320 FCFA ($0.59), with minimal variations depending on the market. These prices are lower than those of the same period in 2017.

In Q2FY19, the project will organize joint visits with MFIs to confirm warehouses and eligibility of stocks and then train members of the warehouses management committees of grain storage and warehouse management.

14 In Burkina Faso, 672 farmers have already stored 208.21metric tons of agricultural products in 27 warehouses

Unlike in Niger, the FY18 warrantage assessment workshop and the FY19 sensitization and planning workshop were not combined in Burkina Faso. As stated in the FY18 annual report, the project organized the assessment workshop in Burkina Faso in Q4FY1810. In Q1FY19, REGIS-AG conducted 16 one-day sensitization and planning workshops for the FY19 warrantage activity. These workshops were held from October 28 - November 3 in East, from October 29 - November 7 in Central-North, and from November 12 – 16 in Sahel. A total of 373 producers (75 men, 298 women) from 196 POs (167 from REGIS-AG and 29 from REGIS-ER) participated (Table 4).

Table 4 : Distribution of warrantage planning workshop participants by region, Burkina Faso

Number of participants Number of REGIS- PO representatives Region POs Total STDs ER Total Men women represented staff Sahel 84 0 0 84 27 57 43 East 69 0 3 66 19 47 38 Center North 225 1 1 223 29 194 115 Total 378 1 4 373 75 298 196

During the workshops, the following was achieved: • Participants re-examined the strengths and weaknesses of the activity in FY18 warrantage activity. • A clear and detailed roadmap for the implementation of the FY19 warrantage activity was agreed upon, including specific date for each step, roles and responsibilities of the parties involved, and monitoring visits. • A list of POs that are committed in participating in the FY19 warrantage was drawn and the quantity of grains they intend to store recorded. These are summarized in the table below.

Table 5 : Quantity of grains farmers plan for the FY19 warrantage FY19 at the planning workshop

Type of product (metric tons of grains) Regions TOTAL Cowpea grain Millet Peanut Centre-Nord 211.70 - - 211.70 Est 61.80 - - 61.80 Sahel 22.72 2.10 0.76 25.58 Total 296.22 2.10 0.76 299,08

After the planning workshops, the project organized field missions in all three regions along with representatives of the MFI from November 25 - December 19 to verify the quantity of products already in

10 The workshop gathered 70 participants (47 men, 23 women) from POs, MFIs (RCPB and MECAP), traders, REGIS- AG and REGIS-ER. The main challenges identified during the assessment were: the need for better joint monitoring (POs and financial institutions), the need for stronger, more formal relationships between traders and POs, and the need for better follow up on the use of warehouse management tools such as the inventory tracking tool. 15 the warehouses, and to support POs in preparing their loan applications. The table below summarizes of the quantity of grains the team observed in the warehouses.

Table 6 : Quantity of grains stored in warehouse during the monitoring visits in Burkina Faso

Type of product (metric tons of grains) # of # producers involved Regions Sor- Cowpea Millet Peanuts Rice Maize Total PO Total M F ghum Center- 105.90 2.70 0 1.50 0.10 0 110.20 42 415 1 414 North East 27.80 0.70 5.90 11.55 0 0.70 46.65 10 149 19 130 Sahel 44.00 6.00 0.80 0.56 0 0 51.36 58 108 50 58 Total 177.70 9.40 6.70 13.61 0.10 0.70 208.21 110 672 70 602

More is grains will be added to the stock already in the warehouses. Part 4 of this report presents details related to credit. In Q2FY19, the project will monitor stocks placed in warrantage warehouses.

b) Sub-activity 3: Train the POs on the use of PICS bags and improved storage for cowpeas In Burkina Faso, as indicated in the FY18 annual report (section 3.3.1), the project training on the use of PICS bags was organized during Q4FY18 in the three regions of influence (August 27 – September 3 in Central-North, August 27 - September 4 in Sahel, and August 28 - September 5 in East). Building on the FY16 and FY17 TOT approach11, these trainings involved 915 producers (172 men, 743 women) from the three regions. For FY19, the project team instead organized 3 regional workshops to facilitate the access to agricultural inputs, particularly PICS bags, for participants engaged in the FY19 warrantage activity. Details on this activity are presented in this report under Component 3 in section 3.3.1.

11 The trainings were provided by 20 trainers REGIS-AG staff trained on the use of PICS bags in FY16 and FY17. They were supervised by the project’s cowpea value chain coordinators. 16 In Niger, a refresher training on the use of PICS bags and warehouse management was conducted during each warrantage workshop. This training included a theoretical session as well as practice on filling PICS bags. These sessions focused on reminding participants on the importance of warrantage and PICS bags in the storage of cowpea and equipping them with basic understanding and knowledge about bag storage and stock management. The training was carried out by project staff in local languages. Agro dealers were presented to producers are main sources of quality bags. Agro dealers also assisted project staff during the demonstrations. The MFI presented their procedures and requirements. A participant displays her products at the Zinder Saboua fair In total, all 99 participants of the warrantage workshop (composed of 63 members of POs, 6 traders, 7 agro dealers, 8 representatives of the 5 MFIs, 12 representatives of the state deconcentrated technical services, and 3 REGIS-ER staff) were trained.

Activity 5: Facilitate the organization of cowpea fairs in Burkina Faso and Niger REGIS-AG facilitates access to markets for actors through direct participation in trade fairs and exhibitions within and outside the country, and through the development of direct linkages with specific buyers. These fairs are platforms where actors throughout the value chain (input supply, production, processing, and marketing) meet to Demonstration on the use of PICS exhibit, display, and sell cowpea products. In-country fairs are 2-to 4- bags at the warrantage workshop in day events held in the main town of a region or department to bring Tillabéri market opportunities closer to the beneficiaries. They are organized annually or during times of high demand for food products associated with important events such as Republic Memorial Day, the Agriculture, Hydraulics Show, or the Environment and Livestock show (SAHEL).

As described in the FY19 work plan, REGIS-AG is preparing the organization of three (03) 3-day fairs in Niger (one per region) and two (02) 2-day fairs in Burkina Faso. The project also facilitated the participation of POs in the Zinder Saboua National Fair and is facilitating the participation of its beneficiaries in the Agricultural Hydraulic and Livestock Show (SAHEL)12. The Zinder Saboua fair is a 7-day event the government of Niger organizes each year in December around the celebration of the Republic day. For this year, this fair was organized in Zinder. The Sahel is a 6-day fair the Network of Chambers of Agriculture (RECA) organizes each year.

A total of 21 project beneficiaries earned 1,110,900 FCFA ($2,057) at the Zinder Saboua fair

12 The Sahel is a 6-day fair the Network of Chambers of Agriculture (RECA) organizes each year. 17 The Zinder Saboua fair was held on December 18 in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic. As presented in the table below, 21 people (4 men, 17 women) participated in the fair (2 producers, 17 female Processed cowpea products at the Zinder Soboua fair processors, and 2 traders).

Table 7 : Distribution participants in the Zinder Saboua fair by region and by value chain segment:

Producers’ Value Chain Participants Region Department organization segment Men Women Total Maradi Guidan Roumdji Godiya Processing 0 2 2 Mayahi Kariyal mutunci Processing 0 2 2 Maradi Tchalle katambo Processing 0 2 2 Tillabéri Torodi Potal Processing 0 3 3 Balleyara Chikouran Processing 0 1 1 Zinder Zinder Incha Allah Processing 0 2 2 Magaria Mungane Processing 0 2 2 Matameye Komi da locaci Processing 0 2 2 Doungass Habbaka Processing 0 1 1 Magaria Ceton Kai Production 1 0 1 Mirriah Zumunta Production 1 0 1 Magaria Elh Tsahirou Maman Trader 1 0 1 Zinder Elh Bachir Moussa Trader 1 0 1 Total 4 17 21

The project provided 11 stands of 9 square meters (2 participants per stand). The project also covered half of the participants’ transports cost, the rest was paid for by the participants themselves. Eleven REGIS- AG banners were displayed at the front of the stands to ensure USAID visibility. During the fair, the REGIS-AG team in Zinder collected data and provided ongoing support.

Actors in the cowpea value chain displayed cowpeas, processed cowpea products, and other cereals in the amount of 2,400.5 kg, and sold a total of 1,115.75 kg of cowpea products for a gross revenue of 1,110,900 A REGIS-AG processor presenting her FCFA ($2,057): 710,000 FCFA ($1,315) of processed cowpea, 103,350 prize FCFA ($191) of non-processed cowpea, 295,450 FCFA ($547) other products.

Table 8 : Quantities displayed and sold at the Zinder Saboua fair

Quantity Quantity Value of sales Product Type Product name displayed (kg) sold (kg) FCFA USD Beroua (Wassa Wassa) 265 86 86,000 159 Biscuit 54 32 32,000 59 Couscous 124 40.5 40,000 74 Baby food 40 0 0 0 Dan Waké 621 396 392,000 725 Cowpea flour pasta 15 0 0 0 Baby food 297 64 64,100 118 Niébé transformé Kossey flour 111 3 3,500 6 Cake 9 2 4,000 7 Macaroni 12 0 0 0 Cowpea and manioc 10 0 0 0 Niéma (cowpea and maize) 10 0.5 500 0.93 Niériz 90 54 54,000 100 Spaghetti 56 34 34,000 63 Sub-total 1,714 712 710,100 1,311.93 Cowpea grain 207.5 121.5 42,350 78 Unprocessed cowpea Cowpea seed 262.5 136 61,000 113 Sub-total 470 257.5 103,350 191 Other Other 216.5 146.25 295,450 547 Sub-total 216.5 146.25 295,450 547 Overall total 2,400.5 1,115.75 1,108,900 2,049.93

On the sidelines of the fair, two competitions were organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for the 3N Initiative: a culinary competition and a competition for local processed products. Two REGIS-AG beneficiary groups competed: Torodi's POTAL Union with its flagship product, Nieriz (couscous mix of rice and cowpea), and Zinder's GIE INCHA ALLAH with their Dan wake (fortified cowpea four). POTAL Union won the third in the category "Local processed products" with their Nieriz. The prize consisted in a certificate and 500,000 FCFA ($926) check.

The Sahel and in-country regional fairs will be held in Burkina Faso and in Niger in Q2FY19. Preparation for these fairs has already started and will intensify in the next quarter.

3.2.2. Poultry value chain REGIS-AG activities in the poultry value chain focus mainly on linking producers and buyers through business- to-business platforms and beneficiaries support plans as well as through local trade fairs. In terms of market linkages development and as stated in the project FY19 annual work pIan, by the end of FY18, REGIS-AG activities in the poultry value chain in FY17 and FY18 in Burkina Faso and Niger resulted in the setting up of 18 business clusters with 124 beneficiary support plans. These clusters involve 103 POs, 10 traders and 8 processors or butchers. They are distributed as follows: 19 • 6 business clusters in Burkina Faso with 57 support plans that link 48 POs, 4 traders and 5 processors or butchers. • 12 business clusters in Niger with 67 beneficiary support plans that link 55 POs, 6 traders and 6 processors.

Table 11 and Table 12 below provide details on these business relationships by region and by partner projects that supported the POs.

Table 9 : Distribution of poultry beneficiary support plans to be rolled out in FY19 in Burkina by region

Partner projects whose beneficiaries are involved in REGIS-AG business linkages Region REGIS-ER ViM PROFIL FASO Other partners Total achieved Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to traders 13 14 • Center None 8 PO linked to Na None None 8 PO in 1market North trader A linkages with 1 trader A • East 4 PO linked to Na Na Na 7 PO linked to 11 PO in 2 market 1 trader B 1 trader C linkages with 2 traders B&C 15 • Sahel Na Na 8 PO linked to Na Na 8 PO in 1 market 1 trader D7 linkage with 1 trader D Total achieved 4 PO linked to 8 PO linked to 8 PO linked to Na 7 PO linked 27 PO in 4 market in FY17 + 1 trader 1 trader 1 trader to 1 trader linkage with 4 traders FY18 Total planned 18 PO to be Na 12 PO to be 11 PO to 54 PO to be 101 PO in 19 market in FY18 work linked to 3 linked to 3 be linked to linked to 7 linkages with 9 traders plan traders traders 2 traders traders Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to processors • Center 11 PO linked 1 PO linked to na None 12 PO in 1 market North to 1 1 processor A linkage with 1 processor A processor A • East None na None na 1 trader C 1 trader C in 2 market linked to 2 linkages (above) with 2 processors processor B&C B&C • Sahel 1 PO linked to na na na 8 others PO 9 PO in 2 market 1 processor D (above) linked linkage with 2 to 1 processor D&E processor E Total achieved 1PO linked to 11PO linked 1 PO linked to na 1 trader 21 PO in 3 market in FY17 + 1processor to 1 1processor linked to 2 linkage with 3 FY18 processor processors processors 8 others PO 1 trader C in 2 market (above) linked linkages (above) with 2 to 1 processor B&C processor E Total planned 3 PO linked to na na na 9 PO linked to 12 PO in 5 market in FY18 work 2 processors 3 processors linkages with 5 processors plan

13 This means that this type of market linkage did not emerge during the business linkages development workshops. 14 This means that this type of market linkage was not envisaged in the work plan. 15 This means that this type of market linkage did not emerge during the workshops organized in FY17. 20

Table 10 : Distribution of poultry beneficiary support plans to be rolled out in FY19 in Niger by region

Partner projects whose beneficiaries are involved in REGIS-AG business linkages Region PAASAM- REGIS-ER LAHIA SAWKI Other partner Total achieved TAI Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to traders 16 17 • Maradi 10 PO linked none na Na 1 PO linked 11 PO in 3 market to 2 traders to 1 trader C linkages with 3 traders A&B AB&C • Tillabéri 5 PO linked to None Na Na 4 to be linked 9 PO in 2 market 1 trader D to 1 trader E linkages with 2 traders D&E • Zinder None None 5 PO linked to Na Na 5 PO in 1 market 1 trader F linkage with 1 trader F Total achieved 15 PO linked None 5 PO linked to Na 5 PO linked 25 PO in 6 market in FY17 +FY18 to 2 traders 1 trader to 2 traders linkage with 6 traders Total planned 23 PO to be 5 PO to be Na Na 4 to be linked 32 PO in 3 market in FY18 work linked to 1 linked to 1 to 1 trader linkages with 3 traders plan trader trader Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to processors • Maradi 3 PO linked to 5 PO linked Na na 5 other PO 13 PO in 2 linkages 1 processor A to 1 linked to 1 with 2 processors processor B processor A A&B • Tillabéri 8 PO linked to na None na none 8 PO in 2 market 2 processors linkages with 2 D&E processors D&E • Zinder 3 PO linked to na 6 PO linked to na none 9 PO in 2 market 1 processor F 2 processors linkage with 2 (1 new +1old) processors F&G F&G Total achieved 14 PO linked 5 PO linked 6 PO linked to Na 5 PO linked 30 PO in 6 market in FY17 + to 4 to 1 2 processors to 1 linkage with 6 FY18 processors processor processor processors Total planned 13 PO to be Na 5 PO to be na 5 PO to be 23 PO in 8 market in FY18 work linked to 5 linked to 5 linked to 1 linkages with 8 plan processors processors processor processors

During Q1FY19, poultry value chain activities focused on (i) conducting business cluster evaluation workshops, and (ii) training PO members on production techniques for poultry and guinea fowl, (iii) organizing information and awareness campaigns on vaccination and poultry deworming, and (iv) identifying beneficiaries for guinea fowl kits and pilot incubation units in Niger.

Activity 1: Strengthen business linkages between 52 poultry POs and 10 traders/collectors in Burkina Faso and Niger Activity 2: Strengthen business linkages between poultry 51 POs and 9 processors in Burkina Faso and Niger

16 This means that this type of market linkage did not emerge during the business linkages development workshops. 17 This means that this type of market linkage was not envisaged in the work plan. 21 Activity 3: Strengthen business linkages between 1 trader and 2 processors in Burkina Faso The project support to these business relations are structured around the three (03) activities of this section of the present report. They are implemented in multiple sub activities. The following two sub-activities were implemented in Q1FY19.

a) Sub-activity 1: Organize a self-assessment and update of clusters’ support plans During the reporting period in Niger, REGIS-AG organized 12 business cluster assessment workshops to ascertain the level of implementation of commercial transactions between POs and buyers (traders and processors), and identify challenges to be addressed in order to sure up the chances of achieving the expected results. The workshops were held in Maradi city (October 22 – 29), Tillabéri city (October 23 – 28), Zinder city (October 17 – 30), and Balleyara (October 31 - November 1).

Participation in workshops in Niger

Workshops brought together 74 poultry production POs (23 in Maradi, 17 in Tillabéri, 14 in Zinder and 20 in Balleyara) and 12 buyers (4 in Maradi, 4 in Tillabéri, 3 in Zinder and 1 in Niamey) for a total of 291 beneficiaries (113 men and 178 women) as indicated in the table below:

Table 11 : Participants in the cluster assessment workshops in the poultry value chain, Niger

Number of participants Type of participant Name of Region PO cluster Total Men Women Traders Processors members Wafaye 34 1 33 31 0 2 Tillabéri Mounkaila Doubi 20 6 14 20 1 0 Poulet du Pays 16 4 12 15 1 0 Ballayara Sina 44 26 18 43 1 0 Madougou 38 7 31 37 0 1 Aboubacar Idi 24 10 14 23 1 0 Maradi Adamou Salifou 22 2 20 21 0 1 UJA 21 9 12 20 1 0 Hassan Ali 28 19 9 27 0 1 Zinder Mansir Moutari 20 13 7 19 0 1 Moussa Saidou 24 16 8 23 1 0 Total 291 113 178 279 6 6

Conduct of the workshops in Niger The first evaluation workshop (in Zinder focusing on the Hassan Ali cluster) was organized as a pilot involved to ensure a common understanding of objectives of the sub-activity, the implementation approach and tools used by all staff involved in all four workshops and those involved in similar workshops plan in the other value chain (i.e., cowpea and small ruminant). Lessons drawn by the entire team at the end of this pilot workshop were used to better prepare for subsequent workshops.

22 Before the workshops were held, each PO organized a meeting to conduct an internal analysis of the status of their support plan (number of chicken coops built, the level of purchase of feeders and waterers, the level of implementation of vaccination and deworming), estimate the quantities of poultry sold (especially to the buyers specified in their support plan), identify encouraging developments and challenges in the relationships, and designate the members to participate in the workshops. This pre-assessment allowed POs to have up- to-date information and data concerning the implementation of the commitments. For their part, the buyers involved in the clusters conducted a relationship analysis. These preparatory activities were supervised by the poultry value chain coordinator.

The Poultry Value Chain Coordinator, the Finance Specialist, and the Financial Capacity-building Manager were the moderators for each session. The morning of the first day was devoted to review, while group work began in the afternoon. The second day began with presentations of the results of group work shared by a rapporteur appointed by each group to present their results. After the presentation by the group's rapporteur, questions were posed by the audience and the all attendees made contributions and debated the issues.

Results of all workshop assessments in Niger • Encouraging developments: − Start of investments (construction of poultry housing, the purchase of breeding stock) included in support plans; − Start of commercial transactions for buyers and POs − Adoption of vaccination against Newcastle disease by PO members; − Financing of collectors by banks and MFIs − Participation in training on poultry production techniques (including the production of poultry feed from local raw materials)

• Challenges or areas for improvement (bottlenecks): − The level of production by POs remains low despite project support, indicating that sales commitments are not being respected. Causes of the low production by PO and corresponding correctives measures are the following: Causes: Corrective measures: Low vaccination coverage of PO members need to vaccinate poultry every 3 months. poultry (absence of AEs, late The project will continue to sensitize producers on the vaccination, discouragement felt importance of vaccination, and encourage members of by producers following post- POs to set up a vaccination fund by collecting vaccination vaccination mortalities). fees at PO level for each member. Discouragement felt by The project will intensify sensitization on timely producers after experiencing vaccination because mortalities of vaccinated birds occur post-vaccination mortalities. when done late. Poor husbandry practices of The project will intensify technical support to POs chicks and guinea fowl. through BDS that are being selected under the 3S Fund.

23 Poor feeding practices (i.e. a lack The project will continue training POs on the of fortified and balanced feed). manufacture and sale of the enriched feed produced using locally available material. Low level of achievement of The project will help POs review their goals and poultry sales target set in production plans to adapt to their members’ current level support plans. of production. In addition, the project will accelerate the process of recruiting service providers to train PO members.

− PO members do not sell all their production to collectors or to the main buyer Causes: Corrective measures: Some POs do not know the The project will attempt to formalize the relations collectors to whom they should be between POs and collectors. selling their poultry Some POs prefer to sell their The project will improve linkages between the production at fairs. collectors and the POs by educating producers on the importance of respecting agreements made while also attempt to formalize agreements. The POs and the buyer have not The project will improve the contracting arrangement agreed on a place and period of sale. to include a place and period of sale. The parties have not determined in The project will establish a reference selling price advance a pricing mechanism. based on the weekly market price of the commune to facilitate price fixing between POs and collectors.

− Collectors tend to sell the poultry collected from POs to their former customers rather than the final buyer in the cluster as agreed upon in the support plans, and some final buyers in the cluster have their own collection network which was not considered in development of the support plans. Causes: Corrective measures: The quantity of poultry collected This is part because the availability of poultry is limited. does not satisfy both the final The project will work with producers to intensify buyer in the cluster and former production, and thereby increase availability. In addition, customers. the project will educate collectors on the importance of respecting commitments and attempt to formalize the relations between collectors and the final buyer in the cluster. The market linkage development The project will educate collectors and final buyers on process did not take into account the importance of respecting commitments and the old customers. reorganize cluster by integrating old customers in cluster.

− Sources of verification of poultry sales by members are not available.

24 Causes: Corrective measures: At times, sales are made The project will sensitize producers on the importance of individuals from the relevant POs reporting sales to all the team to be able to assess are not communicated to performance. In addition, ReCom will be asked to take ReComs. advantage of the PO meetings to update data collection sheets. The project monitoring of these The project has already given a data collection sheet to all market linkages has been ReCom. It will organize monitoring trips in of the support insufficient. plans quarterly to collect data sheets and take advantage of meetings with ReComs to update sales figures.

Generally speaking, the assessments in Niger indicate that the project should support the formalization of commitments, and more specifically will develop and transmit the agreements between POs and buyers for signature.

In Burkina Faso, REGIS-AG follows the same approach used in Niger. But during the reporting period, only the initial workshop was held. It focused on one cluster (the Song Venessé business cluster18) in Kaya from December 3 – 5. The other workshops will be held in Q2FY19. Results of this assessment are summarized as follows: • Encouraging developments − Members of the cluster (PO, financial institutions, REGS-AG) have carried out the activities and commitments contained in the support plans. − The volume of poultry sales within the cluster has increased due to increased production and gross revenue has increased at all levels of the cluster due in part to increased selling prices. These improvements have led to an increased and sustained motivation which encourages the actors to invest further. This is the case for the processor who has increased its sales capacity with the installation of two new sales outlets in the city of Kaya. − Majority of PO (10 POs out of 12) received credit from the Caisse populaire of Central-North. This funding enabled PO members to implement the activities planned in the support plans. − The actors in the cluster are well integrated and have built a relationship of trust. They have been able to hold consultation meetings to reinforce their business relationship. − The processing company which serves as cluster lead works considerably for the development of the cluster by providing the day-old chicks from the hatchery (''chickens of Faso'') to the members of the cluster. In addition, the lead has been engaged in facilitating commercial transactions.

• Challenges or areas for improvement (bottlenecks) Challenge: Corrective measures: The geographical coverage of the RSAP REGIS AG will work to strengthen the and its network of AEs and by the public relationship between AEs and farmers' POs;

18 The Song Venessé business cluster consists of 12 poultry POs in Central-North, a poultry processing and marketing company called Song Venesse (this company serves as the lead of the cluster), and a network of 19 collectors. 25 sector animal health service agents is Secondly, the project will encourage RSAPs to limited. Many POs are very far from AEs, expand the AES device to reach the OP and are unable to benefit from their maximum. services. Given the vital role played by Finally, producers will be sensitized to attend the health care and other veterinary nearest animal health services. treatments in poultry production, this lack of access plays a major role in the development of their production activities. Although the project has made efforts in will train the leaders of POs on good governance the organization and structuring of POs, and community life their governance remains week. This this will be in consultation with the team in makes it difficult to increase production charge of governance within the project and sales as well as to participate in the further integration of production / marketing activities.

b) Sub-activity 2: Train chicken and guinea fowl producers on basic poultry production techniques, including feed production, guinea fowl eggs selection, and husbandry

In Niger, all PO support plans include the need to strengthen the technical expertise of members on poultry production. As a result, PO trainings on poultry production techniques started in September 2018 (FY18) continued during October 2018 (FY19) in Maradi, Tillabéri and Zinder. A total of 307 producers (24 men, 283 women) were trained in October on the main techniques of poultry production as shown in the table below. These participants are added to the 225 producers (67 men, 158 women) which were trained in September 2018 (FY18).

Table 12 : Distribution poultry production training participants in October

Number of participants Region PO name Village Men Women Total Cin Musu Yen Sara 0 26 26 Tattali Yen Sara 0 35 35 Tallahi Yen Sara 0 35 35 Maradi Hhadin Kai Yen Sara 0 35 35 Hankuri Yen Sara 0 35 35 Sub-total 0 166 166 Kandé Bani Tchamio 4 33 37 Nanay Bonféba 0 30 30 Tillabéri Bonkanay Bonféba 0 30 30 Sub-total 4 93 97 Alheri Falki Baba 4 18 22 Karkara Baguirmi 10 0 10 Zinder Nassara Angoual Malam 6 6 12 Sub-total 20 24 44 26 Overall total 24 283 307

These trainings focus on:

• poultry health (recognition of the signs of diseases, factors influencing the spread of diseases, prophylaxis plan), • poultry farming (hygiene, biosecurity, cooperative and animal health), • importance of improved feeds for poultry, • production of fortified and balanced poultry feed, • selection of guinea fowl eggs for hatching and maintenance of chicks and guinea fowl, and • importance of ensuring the security of poultry housing.

c) Sub-activity 3: Organize 4 sensitization and information campaigns on poultry vaccination and deworming with the support of the regional poultry producers’ unions and service providers In the poultry value chain, the ability of producers to satisfy market demand is low. This is largely due to avian diseases, particularly Newcastle disease, which causes high mortality of poultry. Indeed, Newcastle

A sensitization session in Kira Da Karfi in Maradi A sensitization session in Bonféba in Tillabéri disease alone accounts for 40% - 70% of poultry mortality in rural areas; in Niger, it is the most deadly and widespread disease for non-vaccinated poultry.

In Niger, REGIS-AG supported an awareness and information campaign on the importance of poultry vaccination against Newcastle disease. The campaign was conducted by the regional livestock directorates and the regional unions of producers and service providers (URPF / S) in Maradi and Zinder (November 15 – 25) and in Tillabéri (November 15 – 30). In total, the campaign reached 89 REGIS-AG POs (34 in Maradi, 12 in Zinder and 43 in Tillabéri) with 2,566 members (1,673 men, 893 women).

Before the implementation of this activity, REGIS-AG first organized a planning meeting with the members of the URPF / S in the presence of REGIS-ER and the Regional Directorates of Livestock on November 13 in Maradi, Zinder and Tillabéri. The project also organized a monitoring mission from November 15 – 17 at the sites where the first awareness sessions were being held to verify the quality of the messages transmitted and to ensure the accuracy of the data collection tools and data sheets. These monitoring missions revealed the following observations: • PO members demonstrated a high level of mobilization and engagement at the first sites. 27 • Awareness messages were clearly presented and provoked great public interest. • The community posed clarification questions and discussions ensued on the practicalities of the vaccination campaign including the unit price of vaccination

Following this sensitization campaign, 64 (76%) of the 89 PO members reached out to vaccinated 14,766 birds (14,648 chicken and 118 guinea fowl), as detailed in the table below.

Table 13 : Distribution of POs and birds vaccinated after the awareness campaign

Number of Number of subjects vaccinated Region Commune POs Chickens Guinea fowl Kourthey 5 1,133 0 Sakoira 13 1,785 77 Torodi 2 462 0 Makalondi 1 2,114 0 Tillabéri Tondikandia 9 2,401 0 Tagazar 1 243 0 Imanan 4 620 41 Filingué 2 379 0 Sub-total 37 9,137 118 Mirriah 3 1,023 0 Zinder Digo 1 452 0 Bandé 2 580 0 Sub-total 6 2,055 0 Aguié 5 700 0 Chadakori 5 250 0 Maradi Guidan Roumdji 5 990 0 Sabon Machi 6 1,516 0 Sub-total 21 3,456 0 Overall total 64 14,648 118

Considering an average cost of 50 FCFA ($0.09) per vaccinated bird, and assuming an 80% survival rate for vaccinated birds and a sale price of 3,000 FCFA for a live bird, this represents a saving of 34,723,600 FCFA ($64,303) for the producers involved.

Activity 5: Promote guinea fowl businesses for youth in Burkina Faso and Niger

This activity is a pilot initiative that seeks to provide opportunities to youth to exercise authentic participation and pursuit their own visions, dreams, hopes, and concerns pertaining to development and overall well-being. It was designed and approved on a pilot scale to demonstrate how the RISE initiative can 28 begin to counter rising insecurity while USAID programming is being developed. It is structured in following three (03) sub-activities with implementation starting in Q1FY19.

a) Sub-activity 1: Facilitate the establishment of 13 pilot guinea fowl incubation business units for the sale of keets and/or live adult birds for home consumption b) Sub-activity 2: Facilitate the establishment of 50 pilot guinea fowl business units for the production and sale of live adult birds and/or some eggs during the rainy season only c) Sub-activity 3: Facilitate the establishment of 10 pilot Galor guinea fowl business units for the production and sale of adult birds and/or some eggs throughout the year

During Q1FY19, the implementation of these sub-activities focused on the following tasks in Niger:

• Planning meeting with research partners Following USAID's approval of the activity, REGIS-AG organized an exchange and sharing meeting with representatives of the National Institute Agricultural Research Institute of Niger (INRAN) and University of Tillabéri on November 21 in Niamey, Niger. Information on these innovative activities as well as details on the implementation strategy were presented and discussed. In addition to welcoming the idea to work together in this pilot initiative, the following was agreed upon: − Beneficiaries of guinea fowl kits should be selected in three villages per region to facilitate linkages with the 3 incubation units for the supply of guinea fowl eggs ; − The partnership should be formalized through an tripartite MOU that clearly define roles and responsibilities; and − The support of the University of Tillabéri will be limited to the region of Tillabéri, while INRAN will focus on Maradi and Zinder.

• Identification of geographical areas favorable to guinea production The main criteria for identifying favorable areas were the widespread practice of and long standing experience in raising guinea fowl, as well as the existence of optimal agro-ecological and health conditions. Favorable agro-ecological conditions include the existence of an appropriate microclimate, water, the availability of adequate for to sustain a balanced diet, and a network of SVPP for basic veterinary service. A list of potentially favorable villages was prepared by the project team and submitted to INRAN and Tillabéri University for review.

• Identification and selection of the 30 beneficiaries of kits for the production of eggs during the rainy season The selection of this category of beneficiaries (sub-activity 2) was made by REGIS-AG Regional Coordinators on the basis of the level of commitment of the POs19 and the guinea fowl production potential of their location as determined by the agro-ecological and health conditions. The PO selection was done at the office. Thereafter, the Coordinators carried out field missions from December 1 - 11 in the regions of Maradi, Tillabéri and Zinder to work with the POs in selecting the most suitable member to benefit from the kit according to the following criteria: (i) age 18-29 (male or female); (ii) proven experience in guinea fowl

19 The following criteria were used to determine the level of commitment of the beneficiary PO: (i) respect for the commitments, (ii) application of the innovations made available by REGIS-AG (vaccination, production of enriched and balanced poultry feed). 29 farming; (iii) commitment to apply the entire technological package (housing, food, and health monitoring); (iv) willingness to finance housing construction, food and sanitation; (v) ability to maintain simple management tools; and (vi) commitment to work with the SVPP or its AE. The main output of these missions was a list of 30 preselected PO that should be visited for the selection of beneficiaries.

• Identification and selection of 9 promoters of incubation units and 10 beneficiaries of kits for year-round egg production For this category of beneficiaries (sub-activities 1 and 3), the preselection of potential promoters was done by the Coordinators on the basis of the list of companies or people who already conduct this activity. A prior experience in guinea fowl production was deemed necessary due to the highly technical nature of the business.20 This list of companies or persons in activity was established in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Livestock (DREL), the Regional Chamber of Agriculture (CRA), and the Regional Union of Producers and Service Providers of the poultry value chain. Using this list and an interview guide, the Coordinators visited the potential candidates from December 1 – 11. The visit focused on verifying their eligibility which was defined by the criteria: (i) age (18-29 years); (ii) proven experience in the guinea fowl production business; (iii) knowledge of guinea fowl breeding techniques (diploma or internship); (iv) commitment to apply the technical package that will be provided; (v) availability of a space suitable for the activity; (vi) willingness to contribute to the financing of housing construction, food and sanitation; (vii) willingness to collaborate with the groups supported by REGIS-AG; and (viii) stability (be sedentary or commit to not migrating).

After the field missions, a selection committee made up of DREL, CRA and the Regional Union of Poultry Producers and Service Providers met in Maradi on December 10th, in Tillabéri on December 12th, and in Zinder on December 12th to select the most suitable/qualified promoters to conduct the activity.

• Validation of the choice of beneficiaries through a field visit with INRAN and the University of Tillabéri: REGIS-AG, with the technical support of INRAN and the University of Tillabéri, organized a mission to validate the choice of beneficiaries from December 10 – 22. Based on the results of the regional selection committees, the mission proceeded to verify the candidates' experience, the availability of infrastructure, and the existence an environment conducive to activity. The mission validated 47 pre-selected beneficiaries distributed by region and sub activity as shown in the table below.

Table 14 : Distribution of selected beneficiaries validated for the pilot guinea fowl businesses in Niger

Number of Number of beneficiaries Number of beneficiaries beneficiaries for Region for year-round egg for egg production in all Total incubation units production (sub-activity 2) seasons (sub-activity 3) (sub-activity 1) Maradi 3 10 2 15 Tillabéri 1 10 6 17

20 The effect of the constraints and challenges associated with the traditional rearing practices are the decrease resistance of birds due to exposure to severe weather and disease, the high rate of animal losses, stunting due to food deficiencies, and the low productivity of the bird at the adult stage. These effects are more pronounced for guinea fowl chicks or keets because they are naturally less resistant than poultry chicks because they have lower weight than chicks at hatching, and at that stage, they are poorly protected with small down, are fragile, fearful, and more predisposed to diseases. The inherent fragile nature of keets during their first days after hatching makes it challenging for non- experienced farmers to raise them. All the necessary conditions must be met to provide them with effective protection during their first months after hatching. 30 Zinder 3 10 2 15 Total 7 30 10 47 Total targeted 9 30 10 49 Remaining 2 0 0 2 The selection mission encountered two main difficulties. The first relates to the prohibition to travel to the Torodi area because of insecurity. As a result, the mission was not able to visit the targeted villages. The candidates proposed were considered as selected. The second main difficulty encountered concerned the maximum age criterion of 29 years. This provision ruled out many experienced but older candidates, particularly for pilot incubation units. As such, the targets planned for each region were not achieved. However, given the existence of favorable conditions (availability of infrastructure, active promoter), the mission selected two candidates whose age exceeds 29 years. This is the case of Roufaï Dantchawa (Tillabéri) and Balkissa oumarou (Zinder) aged 31 and 36, respectively, who have committed to recruiting young people.

Procurement of the kits and their distribution as well as coaching of the promoters will be done in Q2FY19 in collaboration with BENALYA, a private firm from Niger managed by Nigeriens and engaged in the dissemination of appropriate solar energy technologies for the development of poultry and agropastoral production. Benalya is active in the social integration of young boys and girls out of school. This collaboration will be formalized through an MOU. This partnership will be essential for the success of this pilot initiate not only because it allows REGIS-AG to integrate the solar technology in the businesses, but also because the firm is committed to covering half of the cost of the solar energy technology that will be used in these pilot businesses, providing technical support to the beneficiaries during coaching sessions, and using its social capital among the financial institutions in Niger to help the project link these businesses with those institutions.

In addition to procuring production kits and distributing them to selected beneficiaries in Niger, as well as coaching of the promoters, these sub-activities will also be initiated in Burkina Faso in Q2FY19.

3.2.3. Small ruminant value chain REGIS-AG activities in the small ruminant value chain focus mainly on linking producers and buyers of live animals through business-to-business platforms and beneficiaries support plans as well as through local and international trade fairs. In addition, the project organizes interventions to improve the competitiveness of value-added products such as dried and fresh meat, milk and cheese, as well as hides and skins.

In terms of market linkages development and as stated in the project FY19 annual work pIan, by the end of FY18, REGIS-AG activities in the small ruminants value chain in FY17 and FY18 in Burkina Faso and Niger resulted in the setting up of 16 business clusters in the small ruminant value chain with 166 beneficiary support plans by the end of FY18 in Burkina Faso and Niger. These clusters involve 150 POs, 13 traders and 3 butchers. They are distributed as follows: • 8 business clusters in Burkina Faso with 61 support plans that link 53 POs, 6 traders and 2 butchers; • 8 business clusters in Niger with 105 beneficiary support plans that link 97 POs, 7 traders and 1 butcher.

Table 17 and Table 18 below provide details on these business relationships by region and by partner projects that supported the POs.

31 Table 15 : Support plans of small ruminant value chain beneficiaries finalized in Burkina Faso during FY1821

Partner projects whose beneficiaries are involved in REGIS-AG business linkages Relationship REGIS-ER ViM PROFIL FASO Other partners Total planned Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to traders • Central North none22 none None none None None • East 03 PO linked None None none 18 PO linked 21 PO in 4 market to 2 traders to 4 traders linkages with 4 A&B A-D traders23 PO • Sahel 4 PO linked None None none 27 linked to 1 31 PO in 1 market to 1 trader E trader E linkages with 1 trader24 Total achieved in 07 PO linked None None none 45 PO linked 52 PO in 5 market FY18 to 3 traders to 5 traders linkages with 5 traders Total planned in 14 PO linked to 07 PO linked to 11 PO linked 09 PO linked 60 linked to 7 101 PO in 19 FY18 work plan 4 traders 3 traders to 3 traders to 2 traders traders market linkages with 9 traders Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to butchers • Central North na25 na Na na None None • East Na na Na na 01 PO linked 01 PO linked to 1 to 1 butcher A butcher26 • Sahel Na na Na na 08 PO linked 08 PO in 1 market to 1 butcher B linkages with 1 butcher Total achieved in Na na Na na 09 PO linked 09 PO in 2 market FY18 to 2 butchers linkages with 2 A&B butchers A&B Total planned in Na na Na na 9 PO to be 9 PO in 2 market FY18 work plan linked to 2 linkages with 2 butchers butchers

Table 16 : Support plans of small ruminant value chain beneficiaries finalized in Niger during FY1827

Partner projects whose beneficiaries are involved in REGIS-AG business linkages Relationship REGIS-ER LAHIA SAWKI PAASAM-TA Other partners Total planned Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to traders • Maradi 2 PO linked na28 3 PO linked 11 PO linked 9 PO linked 25 PO in 2 market to 1 trader A to 2 traders to 1 trader A to 2 traders linkages with 2 A&B A&B traders A&B29

21 In reality, some of the plans were drafted towards the end of FY17 and finalized in FY18. 22 This means that this type of market linkage did not emerge during the business linkages development workshops. 23 Kabore Alphonse, Mano Domano, Traore Djibril, and Walabri Yarba. 24 Goune Abdou. 25 This means that this type of market linkage was not envisaged in the work plan. 26 Soubeiga Rene. 27 In reality, some of the plans were drafted towards the end of FY17 and finalized in FY18. 28 This means that this type of market linkage was no envisaged in the FY18 work plan. 29 GIE Zumuntchi Kara and Tatalin Arzikin

32 Partner projects whose beneficiaries are involved in REGIS-AG business linkages Relationship REGIS-ER LAHIA SAWKI PAASAM-TA Other partners Total planned • Tillabéri 9 PO linked Na none30 none 15 PO linked 24 PO in 3 market to 2 traders to 2 traders linkages with 3 C&D C&E traders CD&E31 • Zinder 9 PO linked Na 1 PO linked 6 PO linked 9 PO linked 25 PO in 2 market to 2 traders to 1 trader F to 1 trader G to 1 trader F linkages with 2 F&G traders32 Total achieved 20 PO linked Na 4 PO linked 17 PO linked 33 PO linked 74 PO in 7 market in FY18 to 5 traders to 4 traders to 2 traders to 5 traders linkages with 7 traders Total planned in 14 PO to be Na 6 PO to be 13 PO to be 27 to be 60 PO in 13 market FY18 work plan linked to 3 linked to 2 linked to 2 linked to 6 linkages with 8 traders traders traders traders traders Plans validated and ready for implementation for partner project’s POs linked to butchers • Maradi none 4 PO linked na na 19 PO linked 23 PO in 1 market to 1 butcher to 1 butcher linkages with 1 A A butcher • Tillabéri none Na na na none none • Zinder none Na na na none none Total achieved none 4 PO linked na na 19 PO linked 23 PO in 1 market in FY18 to 1 butcher to 1 butcher linkages with 1 butcher Total planned in 10 PO to be 17 PO to be na na 41 PO to be 68 PO in 7 market FY18 work plan linked to 2 linked to 1 linked to 4 linkages with 4 butchers butcher butchers butchers

In Q1FY19, small ruminant value chain activities focused on (i) organizing evaluation workshops for small ruminant business clusters, and (ii) training producers in commercial fattening which are detailed in this section of report, as well as (iii) facilitating financing for small ruminant value chain cluster members presented in section 3.4.2.

Activity 1: Strengthen business linkages between 32 small ruminant POs and 3 butchers in Burkina Faso and Niger

a) Sub-activity 1: Organize a self-assessment and update of clusters’ support plans In Niger, as in the case of the poultry value chain, REGIS-AG organized 3 business cluster evaluation workshops to ascertain the level of implementation of commercial transactions between POs and buyers (traders and processors) in 8 clusters, and identify challenges to be addressed in order to sure up the chances of achieving the expected results. The workshops were held in Tillabéri (November 6 – 7), Maradi (November 9 – 11), and Zinder (November 14 -15). Building on the experience gathered in the Niger poultry initial assessment workshop, eight (08) clusters were evaluated.

30 This means that this type of market linkage did not emerge during the business linkages development workshops. 31 Entreprise ALHERI, trader Abdou Mayaki, and trader Amadou Hassane 32 Trader Elh Hamissou, trader El Hachimou 33 Participation of the workshops in Niger These workshops brought together a total of 183 participants, including 172 POs members (66 men and 106 women), 7 traders, 1 butcher and 3 representatives of the inter-profession of livestock, meat, hides and skins (IP-BVCP). The workshops also had the active participation of Regional Directorates of Livestock and Regional Directorates of Commerce. The details are shown in the table below.

Table 17 : Participants in the small ruminant value chain cluster evaluation workshops, Niger

Number of Number of Number of participants Region clusters POs PO members33 IP-BVCP Traders Butchers involved represented Women Men Total members Tillabéri 3 24 25 20 45 3 0 1 Maradi 3 45 50 35 85 2 1 1 Zinder 2 28 31 37 68 2 0 1 Total 8 97 106 66 172 7 1 3

Conduct of the workshops in Niger The 8 clusters evaluated are the following: • 3 clusters in Tillabéri: Djibo Boukari (butcher) cluster with 12 POs, Amadou Hassane (trader) cluster with 7 POs, and Abdou Maiyaki (trader) cluster with 5 POs. • 3 clusters in Maradi: Yerima (butcher) cluster with 13 POs, Oumarou Daouda (trader) cluster with 18 POs, and Ousmane Ali (trader) cluster with 14 POs. • 2 clusters in Zinder: of Hachimou Issa (trader) cluster with 4 POs, and the of Hamissou Harouna (trader) cluster with 24 POs.

Before the workshops, each PO conducted an internal analysis of their business linkages. The buyers of each cluster also analyzed the relationship with the POs. These self-assessment activities allowed cluster members to compile and verify necessary data (number of members in each PO and the number of animals available) and information before the workshop. They were supervised by the project Regional Coordinators to ensure that the actors came to the workshops ready to proceed with further analysis.

Each workshop lasted two days and was structured as described in the poultry section. Participants discussed (i) encouraging developments and challenges, (ii) the members of the POs, (iii) the number of heads (sheep and goats) available at PO level, (iv) the credit requested by the PO, and (v) the engagement with the merchant.

Results of the workshops in Niger • Encouraging developments: − POs are working together in teams which allow them to benefit from group purchase and group sales.

33 The 97 PO have 1,069 members. 34 − POs are holding regular monthly meetings and this allows them give internal credit among members for small investments. − POs are collecting internal dues (250 FCFA – 1,000 FCFA per week or month).

• Challenges or areas for improvement : − 95 % of the POs have a weak understanding of modern fattening techniques. This includes the choice of the breed, feeding, health monitoring, and animal rearing. Consequently, few POs invest in fattening infrastructure needed for effective fattening activities (troughs, feeders, pens / habitats). REGIS-AG will continue to strengthen the link between POs and SVPPs as well as provide training in commercial fattening. − There is a lack of respect for commitments between POs and traders. This is due to weak communication between the POs and the traders as well as a weak willingness of the traders to buy the animals from the POs. The main corrective measures to be carried out were identified: organizing meetings between POs and traders to review and update previously made commitments. − The 97 POs did not receive the credit they requested in 2017 for 2018 production due to a breakdown of communication between the MFI leadership and loan officer in communes34. The project has since improved its monitoring of implementation at commune level of agreements reached with the MFI leaderships.

In Burkina Faso, REGIS-AG organized 2 business cluster evaluation workshops with 143 participants in the Eastern Region (December 13 – 15), and in the Sahel (December 17 – 19). In total, 3 clusters were evaluated. Prior to these 2 workshops, the project organized a learning evaluation workshop for the Song Venessé cluster in which all project staff that managed the 2 workshop attended. The workshop at the Center North will be conducted in Q2FY19. As in Niger, these workshops are intended to help all staff develop a common understanding of objectives of the sub-activity, the implementation approach and tools used. Similarly, lessons drawn at the end of this pilot workshop were used to better prepare for subsequent workshops.

Participation in the workshops in Burkina Faso The workshop in East region (December 13 – 15) gathered 42 participants (15 men, 27 women) and focused the Teeltaba cluster (1 trader, 2 collectors and 11 POs35) and the Traore Djibril cluster (1 trader, 2 collectors, a transformer and 11 POs36). The workshop in Sahel region gathered 102 participants (72 men, 30 women) and focused the Goune cluster (1 trader, 2 collectors and 49 POs). In addition to the 49 POs (96 participants including 29 women), 4 representatives of the Regional Directorate of Animal and Fisheries Resources (DRRAH / Sahel), the MFI Caisse Populaire and the Sahel Regional Chamber of Agriculture also participated (one each).

Table 18 : Participants in the East and Sahel workshops, Burkina Faso

34 The leadership had agreed to provide loans to the POs after two meetings the project facilitated; but they did not pass the information to their agents in the commune. When PO members showed up at the MFI at the commune, the agents did not give them the loan. 35 20 participants, including 16 women. 36 14 participants, including 10 women. 35 Financial Number Regional Number of Region PO members institution of RSAP Chamber of DRRAH Total processors (RCP) traders Agriculture 34 2 1 4 0 0 1 42 East (8 men 26 (1 men, 1 (1 man) (4 men) (1 man) (15 men, 27 women) woman) women) 96 1 0 2 1 1 1 102 Sahel (67 men 29 (1 woman) (2 men) (1 man) (1 man) (1 man) (72 men, 30 women) women)

A view of participants in group session during the A view of participants in a group session during workshop in East region the Sahel workshop

Results of the workshops in Burkina Faso The results obtained from the evaluation workshops are presented as follows: • Encouraging developments − POs in the Teeltaaba and Djibril Traoré clusters in the East region were able to produce and sell enough animals to achieve 94% of sales target set in the support plans. These sales are detailed in the table below by cluster.

Table 19 : Number of animals sold in the Teeltaaba and Djibril Traoré clusters, Burkina Faso

Name of Number of Number of goats Total number Cluster sheep sold sold sold /targeted Teeltaaba 337 79 416 Djibril Traoré 241 124 365 Total 578 203 781 Target set in 2017 830

This clearly indicates that when committed, producers in the cluster can meet sales targets they set themselves. As shown in the table below, in 2019, the POs plan to produce 892 animals (652 sheep and 240 goats) and are likely to achieve these levels of production.

Table 20 : Number of additional animals the clusters plan to produce by August 2019 36 Cluster name Number of Sheep Number of Goats Total number of animals Teeltaaba 318 100 418 Djibril Traoré 334 140 474 Total 652 240 892

• Challenges or areas for improvement (bottlenecks) in the East region − Most animals were sold to non-cluster buyers (local collectors) rather than to buyers designated in the support plans. Only 99 of the 781 animals were sold to buyers in the cluster. The other 682 were sold to 9 local buyers who are not members of the cluster. During the group discussion session, participants discussed actions that can help increase in-cluster sales. These included: (i) strengthening the relationships and communication between the POs by sharing information and organizing periodic meetings, and (ii) discussing the possibility of integrating some local collectors into the cluster during Q2FY19. The project also needs to improve its monitoring of the clusters.

− Difficulty in accessing credit. Concerning POs in Bogande the Caisse Populaire made high amounts of loans that it cannot recover (to other POs, not to REGIS-AG POs). This situation may be resolved in 2019 with project advocacy. The director of the Caisse Populaire of Gayeri, who participated in the evaluation, invited POs to come to his office so that he can do the needs assessment and proceed with funding. Normally, institutional procedures require the caisse populaire to travel to see producers, but the security situation requires it to be the opposite. The project will continue to support POs through advocacy with MFIs.

• Challenges or areas for improvement (bottlenecks) in the Sahel region − Cluster members also have difficulties accessing financing. For the Caisse Populaire, POs came to the MFI’s offices to find out more about the loan conditions, but did not return which for them indicated that they were no longer interested in the credit. For POs, the high interest rates, and collateral requirements are difficult to meet. The final buyer who leads the cluster decided to stop his participation in the cluster after he was offered a 3,000,000 FCFA ($5,556) loan when he had requested 6,000,000 FCFA (11,111). During group work, participants discussed corrective measures regarding access to finance. To improve access to credit, the project will strengthen advocacy for the financing of action plans with a focus on interest rate and loan guarantees. In addition, the POs have been asked to use their accounts because having a dormant account is does not allow them to get loans.

− Most animals are also sold to non-cluster buyers (local collectors). During the January - November 2018 period, the POs produced and sold 1,345 small ruminants (1,020 sheep and 325 goats). However, only 26 animals (2%) of these animals were sold to the collectors in the cluster. The rest of these 1,319 sheep were sold to two local collectors who are not members of the cluster. During the group discussion session, participants discussed the corrective measures and agreed to organize a meeting with local traders/collectors in February to explore the possibility of their integration into the cluster. b) Sub-Activity 2: Build the technical capacity of POs in Burkina Faso and Niger in animal fattening

37 For FY19, REIS-AG planned to build the capacity of 485 members of 97 POs involved in support plans on commercial fattening techniques using training of trainers approach. In Q1FY19 (December 10 – 21), the project organized training workshops on commercial fattening in 9 locations in Niger as detailed in the table below. ReCom led the process of selecting 5 representatives from their PO to attend the training via selection meetings under the direction of their PO President.

Table 21 : Distribution of trained as trainers for the small ruminants fattening training, Niger Number of participants Number of Centers / Region POs communes Men Women Total represented Tillabéri city 16 24 40 8 Tillabéri Balleyara 5 20 25 5 Filingué 3 32 35 7 Guidan Roumji 14 26 40 8 Maradi Aguié 4 51 55 11 Mayahi 11 49 60 2 Mirriah 8 17 25 5 Zinder Droum 10 20 30 6 Bandé 14 21 35 7 Total 85 260 345 59

The training module was developed by the Regional Directorate of Livestock of Maradi then validated together with the REGIS-AG small ruminant value chain team. The training topics included: • choice of animal (the breed, the coloring, the size, the age), • feeding (importance of feeding livestock, different nutritional requirements for animals, their roles and formulation of animal feed), • animal health (recognition of signs of disease, factors of spread of disease, prophylaxis plan), • equipment and materials, • establishment of an operating account, • pricing, • definition of production and marketing objectives to meet market demand.

Training included both theory and practice. The practice was done with the support of the commune livestock service. It consisted in a visit to a cattle market or a fattening site to see different breeds, and how to identify the age of the animal by looking at teeth or horns. Participants also viewed demonstrations on how to give an animal a zootechnical product (first care). The trainings were facilitated by 3 trainers identified by the project in collaboration with the Regional Directorates of Livestock of Tillabéri, Maradi and Zinder.37 The following reaction at the Tillaberi Center of Mahamadou Boubé, a producer from the Lassabou group in the village of Farié Haoussa:

37 Trainer in Tillaberi : Dr Soumaila (SVPP de Filingué). Trainer in Maradi : Djafarou Amadou (AREN). Trainer in Zinder : AbdouAziz Maman Zootechnicien (Responsable de la production Animal Direction Régionale de l’Elevage de Zinder). 38 This training helped him to understand that the age of an animal can be determined by looking at its teeth. Before the training, he had often seen buyers at the market opening the mouths of animals to look at their teeth before buying but he never asked why they did this.

This training will continue in 5 centers in January 2019: Tillaberi (center of Torodi), Maradi (center of Madarounfa and Dakoro), Zinder (center of Gragoumsa and Matameye). Thereafter, the project team will monitor a random sample of training sessions led by trainers for quality control and necessary coaching. 3.3. Component 3 - Strengthening input supply and other services and improving smallholders and agro-processors’ access to interconnected markets

Activities under this project component are therefore structured around two broad intervention areas: cowpea input services and animal inputs services. These activities are geared towards facilitating access to agro-inputs and animal health services for project beneficiaries involved in value chain development activities presented in Component 2 of this report. As such, they are complementary to activities planned in Component 2.

3.3.1. Cowpea inputs and agricultural services Access to agro-inputs (quantity and quality) and agricultural services is a key factor in improving the development of the cowpea value chain. To facilitate access to agro-inputs and services by project-supported cowpea producers involved in the project cowpea value chain development activities (section 3.2.1), in FY15, REGIS-AG carried out a scoping study on input distribution in Niger and Burkina Faso that led to the mapping of agricultural input distributors and grain storage warehouses in the project intervention areas. This activity was conducted in collaboration with project partners. On the basis of the data and information collected, the project carried out the following interventions under this section report in FY16 through FY18: • Facilitating direct contact between producers and seed and fertilizer distributors in the implementation of the warrantage activity and the beneficiary support plans, • Training input distributors to increase technical knowledge to improve their provision of technical advices to the producers (their customers), • Organizing agro-input fairs that facilitated contacts and the purchase of inputs and PICS bags for cowpea conservation. • Supporting the ministers in charge of agriculture in Burkina Faso and Niger in organizing a national forum to discuss changes and government priorities for the development of seed and fertilizer sub- sectors.

In Q1FY19, activities the project carried out under Component 3 focused on: (i) continuing to facilitate access to agricultural inputs including PICS bags through business linkages development, (ii) strengthening formal networks of input distributors, and (iii) facilitating the development and validation of national action plans for the development of the seed sub-sector in Niger and the seed and fertilizer sub-sectors in Burkina Faso.

39 Activity 1: Facilitate access to cowpea inputs and PICS in Burkina Faso and Niger a) Sub-Activity 1: Facilitate cowpea producers' access to agricultural inputs in warrantage schemes In Niger, cowpea producers’ access to agricultural inputs and PICS bags is facilitated during the warrantage planning workshops. This I achieved by inviting agro dealers operating in the vicinity of producers registered to participate in the warrantage to attend the planning workshop to allow farmers to know possible sources of these input. Except in the first year when the project purchased the PICS bags for farmers, they generally buy their own inputs directly from the agro dealers without resorting to credit.

Unlike in Niger, in Burkina Faso, the project team organized 3 regional workshops to facilitate the access to agricultural inputs, particularly PICS bags, for participants engaged in the FY19 warrantage activity. More specifically, these workshops focused on facilitating exchange between producers and PICS bags distributors to ensure the long-term supply of PICS bags through commercial transactions; increasing awareness among producers and traders about the technical, economic and environmental Participants in the inputs workshop at Fada benefits of PICS bags; sensitizing producers and traders about the risks associated with the use of pesticides in cowpea storage; and providing cowpea producers with information on approved suppliers of PICS bags in different regions.

The workshops were held from December 7 – 8 in East, from December 12 – 13 in Sahel, and from December 14 – 15 in Central-North. They brought together 113 people (63 men, 50 women): 71 representatives of OPs, 31 distributors of PICS bags and/or agricultural inputs, 8 cowpea traders, 1 MFI representative, and 2 service providers. A consultant of the University of Perdue also participated as a facilitator regarding PICS bags.

Table 22 : Participants in workshop on facilitating access to agricultural inputs

Agro Service Total Region Producers Traders MFIs dealers Providers Men Women East 12 18 1 1 2 34 27 7 Sahel 17 4 2 0 0 23 14 9 Central-North 42 9 5 0 0 56 22 34 Total 71 31 8 1 2 113 63 50

Before the workshops, the REGIS-AG team interviewed 71 representatives of POs and eight (08) traders to determine the quantity of PICS bags used in FY18 and the quantity needed for FY19. The project found out that 100% of the people interviewed in Central-North region used PICS bags during the FY18 warrantage,

40 against, 98% in the Sahel and 45% in the East. 38 Rates of PICS bags utilization by traders in the FY18 warrantage activity stood at: 1% in East, 4.5% in Sahel, and 1% in Central-North.

Workshops were facilitated by the project team and a representative of Purdue University who is working in the PICS bag production plan. The first day was devoted to the following topics: (i) the issue of access to inputs and PICS bags, (ii) the benefits of PICS bags, (iii) supply inputs and PICS bags, (iv) the importance of organizing POs in input supply, and (v) the benefits of bulk purchasing. The second day was devoted to group work to reinforce the information shared on the first day. Emphasis was placed on negotiations between producers, traders and MFIs to develop business relationships for PICS bags and other inputs. At the workshops in the Central North and East, producers purchased 220 PICS bags valued at 228,000 FCFA ($422) -- 140,000 FCFA ($259) in Central-North, and 88,000 FCFA ($163) in East. There were no PICS bags purchased during the workshop In the Sahel region. Many producers had either already purchased bags or received triple bags subsidized by projects such as PRRIA39, and the World Food Program (WFP).

In Q2FY19, the project will continue to monitor the commercial transactions established through the workshops and assess producers’ use of PICS bags as a good Box 1: REGIS-AG Training Modules storage practice in warrantage warehouses. for distributors of agricultural inputs Module 1 - Technical knowledge of Activity 2: Facilitate the strengthening of certified improved seed, seed law, seed formal networks of agro-input distributors in production and marketing conditions. Burkina Faso and Niger Module 2 - Technical knowledge of fertilization and fertilizers, good practice of a) Sub-Activity 1: Train of a new set of agro- fertilizer use. dealers on technical knowledge of Module 3 - Good practices in the production and conservation of cowpea - agricultural inputs and on the management use of PICS bags. of agro-input shops Module 4 - Management of agricultural During FY17, REGIS-AG trained 218 input distributors in input shops. Niger and Burkina Faso on 5 of the 6 modules contained in the Module 5 - Technical knowledge of project training curricular for distributors (Box 1). Module 6 livestock and poultry feeds, from was not administered because the PERSUAP had not yet been production to food distribution, good procurement, management, storage and approved. marketing practices.

Following USAID approval of the PERSUAP in Q4FY18, REGIS- Module 6 - Knowledge and good practices of pesticide management. AG trained the input distributors in Burkina Faso on Module 6 in Q4FY18 (August 2018). The same training was also planned in Niger in Q4FY18, but it was postponed to Q1FY19 due conflict of schedules. It was held from October 29 to 30 in Maradi, from November 1 to 2 in Zinder, and from November 6 to 7 in Tillabéri. A total of 96 distributors (73 men and 23 women) participated (22 in Tillabéri, 40 in Maradi and 34 in Zinder).

38 A total of 47 people (42 PO’s representatives and 5 traders) were interviewed in the Center North region, 19 (17 PO’s representatives and 2 traders in the Sahel, and 13 (12 PO’s representatives and 1 trader) in the East. 39 Stands for Projet de Renforcement de la Résilience à l'Insécurité Alimentaire au Burkina Faso.

41 As in Burkina Faso, the training carried out by a project team in collaboration with the relevant technical services. This was a change in approach compared to the training of trainers (TOT) approach used for Modules 1-5 in FY1740. The change was necessary due to the specificity of the content of Module 6. The Q1FY19 training consisted in a theoretical and a practical phase. The theoretical phase focused on the following aspects: • Explaining the PERSUAP, its contents, the pesticides authorized by the Sahelian Committee of Pesticides (CSP), the list of pesticides rejected by PERSUAP while appearing on the list of approved pesticides, the list of pesticides accepted by the PERSUAP. • Benefits and adverse effects of pesticides. • Different categories and / or classes of pesticides and their use. • Risk assessment and risk reduction measures. • Current regulations on pesticides (regional and national regulations on pesticides) and pesticide control. • Good practices of pesticide use, choice of pesticides, and case cowpea field treatment: How to prepare the phytosanitary mixture without risk • Different types of intoxication and emergency measures in case of pesticide intoxication. • How to recognize and avoid fraudulent and counterfeit products • Causes, consequences of fraud and counterfeit pesticides.

The practical phase focused on the following aspects: • How to read a pesticide label • How to safely prepare the phytosanitary mixture • How to regulate pesticide treatment equipment • Protection of the applicator during treatment • How to successfully treat cowpea pests in the field • How to hold and orient the device during the treatments taking into account the direction of the winds, cleaning the apparatus after treatment, etc.

The list of pesticides authorized by PERSUAP was made available to distributors who can read and write. Demonstrations of the personal protection equipment required during the preparation and application of the phytosanitary spray were also conducted. Water or Participant during input distributor training in Central-North diesel was used for the demonstrations.

In Burkina Faso, REGIS-AG organized a 5-day training on the technical knowledge of agricultural inputs and the management of agro-dealer shops for 17 input distributors (9 men and 8 women) from all three

40 In the TOT, the project team trained a select group of members of the national association of agro dealers and they in turn trained other agro dealers in the regions.

42 region who did not participate in the project’s training on the same topics in FY17 and FY18 in all 6 modules41 to meet the life of project target on agro dealer training. The participants were brought together in Kaya (Central-North region) from November 27 – December 1.

The training was structured in a classroom and practical phases. The practical phase included a visit to warehouses and input shops where participants had the opportunity to discuss with a distributor who has previously benefited from the training (FY17). The discussions focused on many topics, including products storage in the shop, record keeping, risk reduction for pesticide-related contamination before the preparation of the phytosanitary spray, the choice of the adapted pesticide, and integrated pest management. The visit also included a demonstration of pesticide use (adjusting the treatment apparatus, the preparation

Left: Demonstration of pesticide application. Right: Visit to a cabbage patch of the phytosanitary spray, the protection of the applicator, the field treatment technique) and risk reduction measures. They also visited a garden to discuss with gardeners about preparation techniques for the phytosanitary spray and how to spray vegetables (tomato, cabbage, etc.).

To administer the training, REGIS-AG mobilized 4 trainers in collaboration with the AGRODIA secretariat. These trainers were trained by REGIS-AG in FY17 and/or FY18. They were selected based on their technical skills, ability to transmit the knowledge, and their ability to communicate in local language (Mooré, and Gourmanchéma). A representative from the executive secretariat of AGRODIA was involved in the training to encourage AGRODIA to continue offering this type of technical training after the end of the project.

The project is planning a follow-up mission in Q2FY19 to evaluate the effect of this training on the behavior of input distributors.

Activity 4: Facilitate the validation of national action plans for the seed and fertilizer sub-sector development in Burkina Faso and Niger In Niger, the project continued the process of developing action plans based on the recommendations of the seed sub-sector forum held in FY18 (April 2018). During Q1FY19, the project signed a contract with a consultant for the development of the action plan and provided regular updates to the technical services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, including in a meeting setting in Niamey on November 13. Along

41 Not enough agro dealers were trained on module 1-5 in FY17 and on module 6 in Q4FY18 to meet the life of project target on agro dealer training.

43 with a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the consultants conducted field visits in Dosso (November 15 – 16), Tillabéri (November 20 – 21), and Zinder (December 1 – 4) to collect data for the action plan. In December, REGIS-AG received a copy of the first draft of the action plan for review by REGIS-AG, USAID and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. The action plan validation forum will be held in Q2FY19.

In Burkina Faso, the project continued the process of developing action plans in collaboration with the Directorate General of Vegetable Productions (DGPV) based on the recommendations of the seed sub- sector forum held in FY18 (July 2018). The project launched a call for proposals from consultants in Q4FY18. In Q1FY19 (October), two consulting firms submitted offers that were evaluated by a project team. Contracting with the selected consulting firm is in progress, with signature anticipated in January. Development of the action plan and the holding of a validation workshop are anticipated in Q2-Q3FY19.

3.3.2. Animal Health Services In Q1FY19, Component 3 activities for animal health services focused on: (i) recruitment of a veterinarian for the new Madarounfa SVPP, (ii) selection and training of 30 new AEs for the Madarounfa SVPP, and (iii) refresher training for AEs in the Magaria, Mirrah, and Tillabéri SVPPs.

Activity 1: Strengthen the technical capacity of existing SVPP in Burkina Faso and Niger

Recruitment of a private veterinarian for the new Madarounfa SVPP In Niger, the project began the process of establishing a new SVPP in the Madarounfa department during Q4FY18. This included launching the process of recruiting a private veterinarian to manage the SVPP in a consultation workshop held on September 5 with the relevant animal health stakeholders, and posting of a recruitment notice on a Nigerien employment website on September 27.

Four (04) applications were received and then reviewed by a committee that met on November 1 at the premises of the Maradi Regional Directorate of Livestock. The committee was made up of the Maradi Regional Director of Livestock (chairperson), the head of animal health of Maradi, representatives of the National Order of Veterinarians of Niger (ONVN), the ProDAF42 project and the REGIS-AG Animal Health Specialist. Candidates were then interviewed about their knowledge of general medicine, the local language, management and management skills and their motivation. Following analysis and evaluation of the candidates, the scores were sent to the Ministry of Livestock by the chairperson. Dr. Chaibou Mahamadou was selected for the position as head of the Madarounfa SVPP. In December, REGIS-AG supported Dr. Chaibou to obtain his authorization to practice and the health mandate for the area covered.

42 Stands for Programme de Développement de l'Agriculture Familiale. 44 Selection of new AEs for the new Madarounfa SVPP network After the final selection of the private veterinarian, REGIS-AG organized a mission to evaluate 24 old AEs and select new AEs for the Madarounfa SVPP in Niger. In total 30 AEs (29 men, 1 woman) were selected for the Madarounfa SVPP to ensure an adequate network with good coverage of the intervention zone. A total of 22 former AEs were selected, along with 8 new AEs. The Estimation of animal live weight during AE training for the mission was led by the REGIS-AG Animal Madarounfa SVPP Health Specialist, the Assistant to the Madarounfa Departmental Livestock Director, the SVPP Private Veterinary Officer and the AREN Madarounfa Coordinator from November 5 – 14. Selection was done in a participatory manner at the community level using criteria43 defined during a consultation workshop of animal health actors and in accordance with the Nigerien national implementation guide adopted by the Ministry of Livestock. The selection/evaluation of the AEs was conducted as follows: • a visit to the village chief to present the purpose of the mission, the project and its objectives; • a general meeting with a presentation of the purpose of the mission and criteria AE selection; • selection of AEs by the community; • assessment of AEs (in the case of old AEs); • analysis of the community's choices by the mission through questions on the personality of the proposed candidate and on the respect of the selection criteria; • community awareness of their responsibility for sustainability of SVPPs.

Training of the 30 AEs in the new SVPP of Madarounfa To strengthen their technical capacities and quality of service, REGIS-AG facilitated the training of the 30 AEs of the Madarounfa SVPP in Niger. The 10 training modules are as follows: • Roles, functions and limitations of the livestock auxiliary (AE) • Basic animal health concepts • Parasites and parasitic cycles • Main diseases of domestic animals, their diagnosis, prevention and treatment Vaccination demonstration during the training for the Madarounfa SVPP

43 Criteria: hail from the relevant community, be stable in the commune (family, children, work), be livestock famer, be member of a OP, have an average age between 20 and 45 years, schooled or literate, able to read and write, available to travel in the zone of intervention at any time, be proposed by the general assembly, have the qualities of motivation, vocation, availability, financial and technical honesty, conscious of service to the community, knowledge of animals, social recognition, ability to learn/adapt, management ability. Assets: knowledge of breeding, speak at least one local language, old AE, having a mode of travel would be an asset. 45 • Practice of vaccination under the supervision of a veterinarian • Poultry farming • Strategic supplementary feeding of animals. • Awareness guides on animal health, strategic supplementary feeding during the lean season and herd management • Managing the AEs activity

The training was facilitated by a service provider (the former head of an SVPP) under the supervision of the Departmental Directorate of Livestock Madarounfa. It was conducted in Hausa in 4 sessions covering the 10 modules listed above.

Table 23 : Number of AE trained for the Madarounfa SVPP

Number of participants Period Modules Male Female Total December 3–6 1, 2 and 3 29 1 30 December 10–15 4, 5 and 7 29 1 30 December 17–21 6, 8, 9 and 10 29 1 30 December 24–28 General review of 10 modules and practicals 29 1 30

All training sessions consisted of a theoretical phase held in the classroom in Saoulaoua and a practical phase. The participants were divided into 2 groups for discussion and debate; at the end of the group work, a literate student from each group presented their results for discussion among the full group. Practicals were demonstrations related to topics covered, on the following themes: • estimation of live weight, • pipetting of products, • administration of oral anti-pest medication, • administration of products by injection, • vaccination of small ruminants, • vaccination of poultry, • technique of making multi-nutritional blocks, • demonstration of the conduct of a sensitization session of the livestock farmers.

An evaluation carried out at the end of the practical session indicated that the AEs had understood the training topics well.

46 Refresher training for AEs in the Magaria, Mirrah, and Tillabéri SVPPs In Niger, REGIS-AG conducted refresher training for AEs in the Tillabéri, Mirriah and Magaria SVPPs in October. This refresher training covered the 10 modules on which the new AEs were trained (listed above).

The training was held in 3 sessions over the course of 15 days. A total of 84 AEs (79 men, 5 women) participated, as detailed in the table below.

Training was facilitated by the head of the relevant SVPP in the local language (Haoussa in Mirriah and Magaria; Djerma / Sonrai in Tillabéri). AEs in the refresher training for the Magaria SVPP

Table 24 : Number of AE retrained for the Magaria, Mirrah, and Tillabéri SVPPs

First session : Second session : Third session : (Modules 1 – 4) (Modules 5 – 7) (Modules 8 – 10) Location Number of AEs Number of AEs Number of AEs Period Period Period M F Total M F Total M F Total October October October Magaria 31 1 32 31 1 32 31 1 32 3-7 12 – 16 19-23 October October October Mirriah 26 4 30 26 4 30 26 4 30 4-8 12 -16 22-26 October October October Tillabéri 21 0 21 22 0 22 22 0 22 8-12 15-19 25-29 TOTAL 78 5 83 79 5 84 79 5 84

Monitoring missions are planned for Q2FY19 and Q4 FY19. The public sector livestock technical services and the national order of veterinarians (ONVN44) will also monitor the SVPP performance as part of the regulatory control to check the quality of services, ethic compliance, etc. as described in the national guide for SVPP establishment.

3.4. Component 4 – Increasing access to finance, innovation, and private sector investment

In REGIS-AG, increasing access to financial services is first and foremost complementary to the value chain development efforts the project deploys under Component 2. This section of the annual report presents activities carried out in FY18 to build the functional literacy of project beneficiaries and facilitate their access to finance.

44 Stand for Ordre National des Vétérinaires du Niger.

47 3.4.1. Functional literacy capacity building activities Most producers in the project area cannot read or write, which limits their ability to negotiate with microfinance institutions. This low literacy also limits the adoption of technology and the development of relevant marketing strategies for their products. To resolve this problem, the project trains smallholder farmers in functional literacy centers in the intervention zone. Farmers receiving literacy training were selected in collaboration with RISE partner projects (REGIS-ER and DFAPs). Functional literacy centers are managed by the project under the supervision of the local literacy authorities to ensure coherence with the national literacy program. Three local NGOs (sub-partners on the project) – AGED, A2N, and Karkara – lead the implementation of these activities during the first three quarters of the year with an interruption during the growing season (raining season). Karkara covers all of Niger. In Burkina Faso, AGED covers Central-North and East, while A2N covers Sahel.

During Q1FY19, the project functional literacy activities focused on: (i) preparation for the second year of lessons in 30 centers in Niger, and (ii) evaluation of the FY18 functional literacy campaign in the 80 centers (50 centers opened in FY16-FY17 and 30 centers opened in FY18) in Niger.

Activity 3: Monitor and evaluate literacy centers in Burkina Faso and in Niger During the Q1FY19 literacy campaign, REGIS-AG organized at least one pedagogical follow-up visit in each center in collaboration with the public sector technical services.45 During the visits, the team conducted an evaluation through exchanges with the beneficiaries, the management committees (CGAA), and the instructors. These exchanges focus on their roles and responsibilities, attendance of learners, CGAA monitoring of course, and learners' assimilation the content of courses.

In Niger, project monitoring visits were conducted simultaneously in Maradi, Zinder, and Tillabéri from October 19 to 28. They were made under the responsibility of REGIS-AG with the collaboration of the Regional Directorate for Literacy and Non-Formal Education (DIAENF). All centers operated in satisfactory conditions with sufficient support in teaching materials and supplies. In addition, the dynamism of the CGAA contributed to the mobilization of the learners. The table below presents the results the end-of-campaign evaluation of the 80 centers with 66% success rate in the 50 old centers and 58% in the 30 new centers.46

Table 25 : Results of the end-of-campaign evaluation for the 50 old centers, Niger

Number of learners Number of learners by level of competence Region evaluated Number Failed Number Passed % Passed 266 73 193 Tillabéri 72,55% (40 men, 226 women) (11 men, 62 women) (29 men, 164 women)

1,109 356 753 Maradi 67,89% (152 men, 957 women) (82 men, 274 women) (70 men, 683 women)

241 115 126 Zinder 52.28% (91 men, 150women) (17 men, 98women) (74men, 52 women)

45 The departmental literacy services also conduct regular monthly pedagogical monitoring of centers in each region. 46 Although the courses in the 80 centers were still going on at the end of FY18, the instructors conducted a preliminary evaluation of the literacy campaign in August-September 2018 to assess the level of progress of the programs and learners. 48 Number of learners Number of learners by level of competence Region evaluated Number Failed Number Passed % Passed 1,616 544 1,072 Total 66,33% (283 men, 1333 women) (110men, 434women) (173 men, 899 women)

Table 26 : Results of the end-of-campaign evaluation for the 30 new centers, Niger

Number of learners Number of learners by level of competence Region evaluated by region Number Failed Number Passed % Passed 145 74 71 48,97 % Tillabéri (24 men,121 women) (10men,64 women) (14 men, 57 women)

1,008 326 682 67,65 % Maradi (327men, 681women) (119 men, 207women) (208men, 474 women)

251 193 58 23.10% Zinder (80men, 171 women) (52men, 141women) (28men, 30women)

1,404 593 811 57,76% Total (431 men, 973women) (181 men, 412 women) (250 men, 561women)

These results will be validated in January 2019 and meetings will be held with the relevant state literacy services for FY19 planning of trainings.

3.4.2. Access to finance facilitation activities In its strategy to strengthen the development and competitiveness of cowpea, small ruminant and poultry value chains, REGIS-AG is working to facilitate access to finance to: (i) business cluster actors identified in Component 2 activities and whose support plans require financing, and (ii) financial institution agents whose capabilities need to be strengthened to enable them to better analyze requests for financing before the placement of the credit. The financing needs expressed by actors in their support plans fall into the following four main categories: • Cowpea POs: certified seed, fertilizer, pesticides, and PICS bags; • Small ruminant POs: animal feed for fattening activities and animal purchase; • Processors: poultry purchase, equipment (cold chain, exhibition and sale materials) for poultry, small equipment for cowpea and small ruminant processors, infrastructure to formalize their storefronts/point of sales; • Traders for investment in equipment, means of transport, etc to improve their capacity to purchase from project beneficiary POs.

The implementation of the access to finance facilitation activities in Q1FY19 covered the following activities: (i) monitoring of disbursement and repayment of credit for actors involved in business clusters and those engaged in warrantage, (ii) provision of technical assistance to financial institutions in Niger for refinancing opportunities. In addition, Component 4 team led the project evaluation of the technical and financial offers service providers submitted in response to call for proposals made under the 3S Funds.

49 Activity 1: Facilitate access to finance in business clusters In Niger, based on the findings of the cluster assessment activities presented under Component 2, the project has to facilitate access to financing for 172 POs with support plans for a total amount of 320,807,320 FCFA ($594 088) as detailed in the table below.

Table 27 : Distribution of Credit Requirements in FY19 for POs with support plans, Niger

Number Credit needs Value Number Number of support Amount chain of POs of cluster Type of credit Type of actor plans FCFA USD Processors and Poultry 55 12 32 24,240,000 44,889 Working capital traders Working capital Processors and Cowpea 20 8 20 14,939,320 27,665 and investment traders funds POs engaged in Working capital Small fattening, 97 8 101 281,628,000 521,533 and loans for ruminant processors and fattening traders Total 172 28 153 320,807,320 594,088

a) Sub-activity 1: Facilitate cowpea producer organizations’ access to finance for the procurement of inputs

In Niger, the project conducted monitoring the repayment of 3,450,000 FCFA ($6,389) loan MECAT Maradi placed during FY17 and FY18. Of this total, only 235,750 FCFA ($437) remained outstanding at the end Q1FY19.

In Burkina Faso in Q1FY19, the project monitored the repayment of loans Caisse Populaire placed in FY18 in the North-Central region to ensure compliance with repayment commitments. The 11 POs of the Bouroum-Nagbingou cluster repaid their entire loan with interest (9,116,500 FCFA or $16,882 borrowed in July 2018 and due in December 2018). Details of the credit repayment are shown in the table below. In Q2FY19, the project team will monitor input credit placed in FY18 in the Sahel and East regions.

Table 28 : FY18 credit repaid by the Bouroum-Nagbingou cowpea cluster, Center North

Amount repaid Loan amount Date credit Name of PO (with interest) Due date obtained FCFA USD FCFA USD Namalgzanga 900,000 1,667 967,019 1,791 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Wenddenda 679,500 1,258 730,434 1,353 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Nabasnogo 725,000 1,343 779,345 1,443 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Mixte WendKouni 647,000 1,198 694,860 1,287 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Namalgzanga 718,000 1,330 773,944 1,433 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Boyba 694,000 1,285 746,705 1,383 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18

50 Nongtaaba 1,371,000 2,539 1,451,457 2,688 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Nongtaaba 1,077,000 1,994 1,141,620 2,114 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Songtaaba 200,000 370 218,000 404 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Basnéré 675,000 1,250 735,750 1,363 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 Nabonswendé 1,430,000 2,648 1,558,700 2,886 25-Jun-2018 25-Dec-18 9,116,500 16,882 9,797,834 18,144

b) Sub-activity 2: Facilitate access to credit for small ruminant POs to support animal fattening activities In Niger, the project conducted a mission to monitor credit disbursement for actors in the small ruminants and poultry value chains and found that 4 POs were able to obtain loans from KOKARI in Tillabéri totaling 5,250,000 FCFA ($9,722). More specifically, 3,750,000 FCFA ($6,944) was loaned to 3 POs in Filingé, repaid in October 2018 and awaiting renewal, and 1,500,000 FCFA ($2,778) for another PO in Tolko placed in October 2018.

In Burkina Faso, the project did not facilitate new loans for actors with support plans in Q1FY19; at the end of the cluster evaluation workshops in Q2FY19, the actors' funding needs needed to be updated.

c) Sub-activity 3: Facilitate access to credit for processors in the three value chains In Niger, the project conducted monitoring of the repayment of 9,580,000 FCFA ($17,741) BAGRI placed during FY17 and FY18. Of this total, 2,104,596 FCFA remain outstanding. One borrower, SINA, is responsible for the majority of this amount (1,531,721 FCFA or $2,837). The remaining balance of 572,875 FCFA ($1,065) was borrowed by 6 different actors. In January 2019 the project will conduct a facilitation mission to support BAGRI in following up.

In addition, the project team did explore loan opportunities for processors involved in the support plans. The most promising lead was with the Regional Chamber of Agriculture of Zinder (CRA Zinder) the project met with to discuss loan opportunities associated with the Program for the Promotion of Employment and Economic Growth in Agriculture (PECEA), a 2014-19 program that has a guarantee fund with BAGRI to support investment needs; the investment promoter mobilizes 10% of the amount requested, BAGRI provides 50 % investment as loan and the program provides 40% as grant. PECEA is housed within the CRAZ and offers an opportunity for actors in the poultry and cowpea value chain (link transformation) to strengthen their investment capacities. During discussions with the technical assistant of the CRA Zinder, the capacity building provided to POs supported by REGIS-AG was considered by the technical assistant as a good guarantee for securing credits. Working with 247 poultry stakeholders Zinder region including 2 poultry processors, the project facilitated the submission of their loan applications to the CRA Zinder for an amount of 9,350,000 FCFA ($17,315).

In Burkina Faso in Q1FY19, the project monitored the repayment of outstanding loans Caisse populaire placed in FY18 in the poultry portfolio in East region. The amount of 10,902,000 FCFA ($20,181) was placed with 3 POs of the Kabaya poultry cluster. These POs continue to make their payments on time, as summarized in the table below. During Q2FY19, the project team will monitor the Caisse populaire loans placed in FY18 in the Central-North and Sahel.

Table 29 : FY18 Credit repaid by Kayaba Poultry Cluster, East region, Burkina Faso

Amount repaid Loan amount Date credit Name of PO (with interest) Due date obtained FCFA USD FCFA USD Entreprise KAYABA 3,402,000 6,300 1,050,451 1,945 17-May-2018 2-Dec-2019 Association SONG 5,000,000 9,259 2,244,678 4,157 1-Jun-2018 30-May-2019 TAABA Liwubili mani 2,500,000 4,630 670,372 1,241 6-Jun-2018 6-May-2019 Total 10,902,000 20,189 3,965,501 7,344

d) Sub-activity 4: Facilitate access for credit for traders participating in cluster relationships In Niger, the project conducted monitoring of the repayment of 13,800,000 FCFA ($25,556) loan BAGRI placed during FY17 and FY18 with small ruminant traders. Of this total, 1,256,440 FCFA ($2,327) remains outstanding, all with a single borrower, the trader Djibo Boukari. In January 2019, the project will conduct a credit facilitation mission to support BAGRI in the recovery.

During the monitoring of loans placed by the BAGRI, the project found at BAGRI Magaria, using his support plan and a World Food Program order of cowpea, a trader (Elh Dodo) was able to get 6 loans of 145,050,000 FCFA ($268,611) as detailed in the table below.

Table 30 : Loans received by a cowpea trader in Q1FY19

Loan amount Credit period Loan No. FCFA USD Date given Due date Loan 1 26,000,000 48,148 25/04/2017 19/05/2017 Loan 2 28,000,000 51,852 17/07/2017 31/10/2017 Loan 3 29,500,000 54,630 01/11/2017 30/11/2017 Loan 4 37,000,000 68,519 22/12/2017 15/05/2018 Loan 5 2,000,000 3,704 28/06/2018 10/12/2018 Loan 6 22,550,000 41,759 06/09/2018 28/09/2018 Total 145,000,000 268,611

Activity 3: Facilitate access to finance in warrantage schemes Warrantage is a rural credit facility that enhances rural finance supply by directly mitigating collateral constraints and simultaneously improving the risk profile of farmers. The system is structured around warehouse receipts (WR) and allows participants to store their products (cowpea in this case) during the period immediately following harvest, when prices are low. They are then able to sell their products when prices rise. Each of the cowpea producers involved in a warrantage scheme described in section 3.1.1 under Component 2 in this report receives an MFI loan of 80% of the value of its stored product to meet their financing needs. The loan is paid on the sale of the stock. The warrantage financing requirements presented by these POs are summarized in a sheet that the project Rural Finance Specialist submit to financial

52 institutions that have agreed to support the actors. Once this document has been reviewed by the financial institutions, the project team supports credit disbursements to beneficiaries and supports the financial institutions in monitoring repayments.

In Niger, the sensitization workshops for the FY19 warrantage activity were carried out in November 2018. During the workshop, the credit requirements of the 63 cowpea production POs totaled 81,143,540 FCFA ($150,266), detailed by region in the folowing table:

Table 31 : Provisional commitments for warrantage credit to be placed at the end of Q1FY19, Niger

Number Financial institutions Credit Amount Region of POs Number Name FCFA USD Tillabéri 19 1 KOKARI 13,471,640 24,947 Maradi 26 3 TANAADI, MECAT et Mutuelle de MAYAYI 54,170,300 100,315 Zinder 18 2 KOKARI, TANAADI, YARDA 13,501,600 25,003 Total 63 7 81,143,540 150,266

The project also followed up on credit remaining unpaid from the FY18 warrantage activity. A remaining balance of 170,800 ($316.29) excluding interest and penalties remains in Tillabéri.

In Burkina Faso, as part of the FY19 warrantage operation, a REGIS-AG team traveled through the regions to sensitize producers about the process as described in Component 2. After confirming the warehouses and quantity of products stocked, the Cowpea Coordinators passed the task on to the component 4 team for financing. From November 26 – December 1, the component 4 team in collaboration with the director of the Caisse Populaire carried out a field mission in Central-North to: i) check the conditions for granting credit to POs engaged in warrantage, and ii) set up the loan application files for the members of cowpea POs wishing to obtain a loan. From November 28 - December 1, the Cowpea Coordinator and 2 directors of the Caisse Populaire (Manni and Gayeri) carried out a field mission in East to inform and support cowpea producers' loan applications.

At the end of these missions, the caisse populaire analyzed the files and granted loans to those deemed bankable. The table below summarizes the loans already set up under the FY19 warrantage activity. The observation of this table shows that during the first trimester FY19, thanks to the support of REGIS-AG, 564 cowpea producers received 22 867 000 FCFA in loans from the Caisse Populaires. Credit missions in the Sahel will take place in Q2FY19.

Table 32 : Provisional credit in Central-North and East for the FY19 warrantage activity, Burkina Faso

Number of Number of beneficaries Credit amount Region POs involved Men Women Total FCFA USD Central-North 42 1 414 415 15,484,000 28,674 East 10 19 130 149 7,383,000 13,672 Total 52 20 544 564 22,867,000 42,346

53 In Q2FY19, the REGIS-AG team, in partnership with the caisse populaire network, will continue to implement loans in all regions. This follow-up will also make it possible to take stock of the stores, the definitive stocks of cowpea and the credit set up for warrantage in FY19.

Activity 4: Provide technical assistance to financial institutions In order to meet the significant credit needs of value chain actors, microfinance institutions in Niger need to be refinanced by banks. To this end, the project contacted Oikocredit, a social impact investor and worldwide cooperative with over four decades of experience in promoting sustainable development through investments. Oikocredit focuses its investments on financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy. It has offices in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Benin. It offers loans and investments in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. After the first contact with the Benin desk in November, the bank requested the following documents to be able to assess KOKARI for refinancing: (i) business plan, (ii) social audit report indicating the level of social performance of the institution, (iii) financial statement (income statement and balance sheet 2017), and (iv) a copy of the approval as a Decentralized Financial System (DFS). The required documents were submitted in December. Oikocredit analysis of the financial statement sent by KOKARI shows that: • KOKARI has a fairly good level of equity (1.4 billion) but has recorded cumulative negative results over the last years. • The outstanding portfolio (90-day risk portfolio) makes 46.58% of total outstanding amounting to 1.6 billion. This is very far from the 3% standard required by the Central Bank of West African States. • The institution also collects little savings and has relatively low leverage (almost equal to equity). This signals the presence of donors who have made or continue to make grants and endowments available to KOKARI.

The project plans to intensify support to KOKARI during Q2FY19 with a view to finalizing the refinancing agreements.

Evaluation of offers submitted by service providers under the 3S Funds

The 3S Fund is designed to provide services (not equipment) to target value chain actors that are in a position to stimulate growth of the target value chains in project intervention areas in Burkina Faso and Niger. It is a tool for catalytic interventions aimed at driving upgrading that improves both the competitiveness and the inclusiveness of the value chains. The main service provisions targeted are the following: • Technical capacity building interventions of agro dealers and private veterinarians (SVPP/RSAP), as well as their respective associations or networks; • Technical capacity building interventions for producers’ organizations and processors from all three value chains; • Training of certified seed producers and their organization; • Financial product development; • Access to finance facilitation for all value chain actors, including business plan preparation.

The beneficiaries support plans the project developed contains request for technical capacity building. In FY18, the project grouped these needs into 70 bundles or lots (29 in Burkina Faso and 41 in Niger), each 54 constituting a manageable set of combinable services to be provided to a defined number of beneficiaries in a given geographical area by a service provider). A call for proposals for service provision to be funded under the 3S Fund was published in local newspapers. During Q1FY19, the project began the process of evaluating proposals submitted in response to this call. The evaluation is conducted in accordance to the procedure outline in the USAID-approved fund management manual. It involved: (i) a desk evaluation of proposals by an evaluation committee the project set up, (ii) due diligence field visits to preselected applicants to validate information presented in the proposals, (iii) compilation of information from both evaluations (committee and field).

In Niger, the call for proposals included 41 lots but 37 proposals were submitted by 18 service providers for only 26 lots. The remaining 15 lots will be part of the aforementioned second call for proposals. The table below presents the distribution by value chain of lots for which the project received proposal.

Table 33 : Distribution by value chain of lots with proposals, Niger

Number of lots that Value Chain Number of lots published received proposals Cowpea 12 7 Poultry 9 2 Small Ruminants 17 15 SVPP 3 2 Total 41 26

Review by the Evaluation Committee: A review and evaluation committee based in Niamey was set up in October, under the supervision of the COP. The committee was split into 3 sub-committees by value chain. Each subcommittee was chaired by the relevant Value Chain Lead. The committee met at the project’s office in Niamey from October 5 – 12 to review the proposals using the criteria described in the 3S fund manual.

Out of the 37 proposals received, the evaluation of the 2 proposal for SVPP was postponed to Q2FY19. Consequently, only 35 of the 37 proposals were evaluated and, as shown in the table below, 23 from 11 service providers received a score equal or greater than 60/100; 12 received a score lower than 60/100.

Table 34 : Distribution of proposals received by value chain and corresponding number with passed or failed scores, Niger

Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of Value proposals proposals proposals receiving proposal proposals not Chain evaluated receiving a score a score equal or received evaluated lower than 60/100 greater than 60/100 Cowpea 12 0 12 5 7 Poultry 4 0 4 2 2 Small 19 19 0 5 14 ruminants SVPP 2 2 0 0 0 Total 37 2 35 12 23

55 Due diligence field visits to validate proposals: In December, the project conducted field missions to evaluate the 11 service providers which submitted the 23 proposals that received a score equal to or over 60/100. The scores from these visits will be reviewed along with the scores of the committee’s evaluation by a third evaluation committee in January. This third evaluation will select one nominee per lot for final approval by the COP and CNFA headquarters in accordance with the 3S Fund user manual.

Second Call for Proposals: The second call for proposals was drafted in December for lots which received no proposals and for the lots in which no proposal received a score of 60/100. It will be finalized and published in January.

In Burkina Faso, the call for proposals included 29 lots but 116 proposals were submitted by 19 service providers for only 25 lots. The remaining 4 lots will be part of the aforementioned second call for proposals. The table below presents the distribution by value chain of lots for which the project received proposal.

Table 35 : Distribution by value chain of lots with proposals, Burkina Faso

Number of Number of lots that Value Chain lots received proposals published Cowpea 8 7 Poultry 10 8 Small ruminants 11 10 Total 29 25

Review by the Evaluation Committee: Under the supervision of the COP and DCOP, 3 evaluation committees were set up and they met from November 19 – 23 in Sahel, Central-North, and East. The committee was split into 3 sub-committees by value chain. Each subcommittee was chaired by the relevant Value Chain Lead.

Out of the 116 proposals received, 9 proposals did not comply with the requirements of the call for proposals and 20 were in complete (i.e. missing tax certificates, IFU numbers, business registers, etc.). Consequently, only 87 of the 116 proposals were evaluated and, as shown in the table below, 45 from 11 service providers received a score equal or greater than 60/100; 42 received a score lower than 60/100.

Table 36 : Distribution of proposals received by value chain and corresponding number with passed or failed scores, Burkina Faso

Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of proposals Value proposals proposal proposals not proposals receiving a score Chain receiving a score received evaluated evaluated greater than lower than 60/100 60/100 Niebe 29 5 24 14 10 Volaille 25 5 20 11 9 Petits 62 19 43 17 26 Ruminants Totale 116 29 87 42 45

56 Field mission to validate proposals: For the 45 proposals receiving a score of 60/100, the project conducted a field evaluation of 11 local service providers from December 6 – 18 to obtain the second score for each candidate. This assessment led the team to Ouagadougou, Fada N'Gourma and Bogandé. During the evaluation, the team checked the administrative documents (similar contracts, certificates of good, etc.) of the different service providers and also exchanged on their proposals. Following these exchanges, the project team administered a questionnaire to assess the ability of providers to ensure the qualitative progress of the various themes. Each step of the questionnaire was evaluated. The scores assigned to each provider were added to the marks of the first evaluation. In the end, an average was determined to note the firms that presented the best proposals. At the end of this second evaluation, 9 firms (out of 11 involved in the field evaluation) are placed at the top and likely to be selected.

The scores from field evaluation will be reviewed along with the scores of the committee’s evaluation by a third evaluation committee in January. This third evaluation will select one nominee per lot for final approval by the COP and CNFA headquarters in accordance with the 3S fund user manual.

Second call for proposals: For the 4 lots that did not receive any offers and for the lots for which no proposal received a score of at least 60/10, the second notice to tender will be launched in January.

3.5. Component 5 – Improving the enabling environment for local and regional private investment

Component 5 of REGIS-AG aims to improve the enabling environment for investment in inputs, equipment, storage and processing, so as to enable upgrading of targeted value chains in Burkina Faso and Niger. The project is expected to achieve this result through coordination and linkages with relevant projects (REGIS- ER, DFAPs, and the Trade Hub) and strengthening the advocacy capacity of farmers' associations and organizations representing private sector actors along the three value chains. REGIS-AG's activities under this component focused on raising stakeholder awareness of legislation governing private investments in land and agriculture, promoting inclusive management of livestock markets, facilitating women's access to land and services; and coordination with Trade Hub, funded by USAI, to respond to regional constraints related to marketing.

Activities reported in this section correspond to those planned in the work plan Part 4 – Cross cutting activities.

3.5.1. Improving the policy environment for private sector investment Project activities focusing on improving the enabling environment of beneficiaries were minimal during the first quarter in Niger due to the fact that the Component Lead (SNV employee) left the project and the new Component Lead focused on coordinating with Burkina Faso to review and familiarize himself with activity implementation with the Burkina team, especially in terms of the division of responsibilities, indicator targets, and budgets. The only planned activity carried out focuses on monitoring the management of livestock markets.

Activity 3: Strengthen the management of livestock markets in Niger and Burkina Faso

57 a) Sub-activity 1: Support the establishment, organization, and training of market management committees The project has already achieved its target of establishing or improving the management of 25 livestock markets (15 in Niger and 10 in Burkina Faso). During Q1FY19, the project made preparations for a series of monitoring missions and refresher training to be conducted in Niger and Burkina Faso in early Q2FY19.

In Burkina Faso, the project will give particular attention to the markets of Barsalogho and Pissila where concerns have been raised about the functioning of the management committees. In Barsalogho, the Livestock Market Management Committee that has been in place for more than 20 years has not been effective. The local government levies taxes, but the revenues are low compared to the potential of the market. The management committee receives no portion of the taxes collected and no regulations are being enforced in the market. The committee benefited from REGIS-AG training and exchange trips to learn from livestock markets in Fada, Ouagadougou and Pouytenga. These activities resulted in the livestock market actors and the local government renewing their commitment to improving livestock market management in October 2018. The project objective is to strengthen cohesion within the committee, build relations of trust between the committee and other market actors, facilitate negotiation of a co-management arrangement with the local government as well as the adoption of improve management rules.

In Q1FY19, REGIS-AG supported the committee in developing a program of activities to mobilize and engage stakeholders around the committee’s proposals for future market management rules during Q2FY19. This includes: • holding a committee meeting with the general assembly of market actors to explain the new vision and seek their support, • holding a meeting with the committee and the local government to establish greater involvement of the management committee, and • meeting with the departmental department in charge of animal resources. REGIS-AG will follow up with the committee in January to evaluate their progress.

For the Pissila livestock market, during a meeting a USAID mission held with market management committee on November 30, 2018, the committee requested REGIS-AG assistance for obtaining credit to finance its activities. Although this request was discussed with the Caisse Populaire in Kaya, the policies of the financial institution do not permit such financing. However, the Caisse Populaire agreed to examine its policies for the future. The REGIS-AG rural finance specialist will return to meet with the Caisse Populaire authorities to discuss the issue further. The committee will develop an annual business plan in January with the support of the Pissila Breeding Zone Manager and REGIS-AG.

3.5.2. Mainstreaming gender and governance in REGIS-AG value chain development REGIS-AG approach to integrating gender focuses on addressing women’s specific needs in all project activities. Key areas are effective participation in activities, and access to productive resources, credit, and training. The starting point for achieving this is the review of terms of reference (ToR) of all project activities by the gender and governance specialists before they are finalized. The review focuses on making sure that vulnerable groups are not excluded from the activity either because of its timing, its location, the beneficiaries targeted, or the methodology used.

58 For gender mainstreaming, the following efforts are often made when reviewing the ToRs and progress reports: • Ensuring that women participating in an activity also benefit from the project's literacy activity, • Changing the time or place of an activity to allow full participation of women, • Improving the list of beneficiaries of an activity to ensure adequate representation of women, • Examining the frequency of the intervention to ensure effective learning, • Reviewing the progress report to ensure that the recommendations made are gender-sensitive.

In addition to integrating the needs of women into all project activities, REGIS-AG also conducted one gender-focused complementary Participants in Maradi region during the monitoring mission for activity in FY18 to induce changes in attitudes the community dialogues held in FY16 and FY18 and behavior and achieve greater female participation in the targeted value chains. Similarly, REGIS-AG also conducted two governance-focused complementary activities.

3.5.2.1. Gender specific complementary activities On the three activities were planned under the gender specific activity section of the FY19 work plan, only one focusing on women empowerment was implemented in Q1FY19.

a) Sub-activity 2: Promote full participation of women in agro input trade through community dialogues In Niger, REGIS-AG carried out field missions to monitor the results of the community dialogue sessions held in FY16 and FY17, particularly with respect to the implementation of action plans created by groups which participated in these dialogues.47 They were conducted from November 12 - 15 in nine sites in Maradi, from November 1 - 8 in eight sites in Tillabéri, and from November 19 - 23 in ten sites in Zinder. The team included the Gender Specialist, the Cowpea Value Chain Coordinator from the relevant region, and 2 Representatives from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection. The assignment objective was three-fold: • review the level of implementation of action plans developed by these groups after the community dialogues were held in FY16 and FY17, • identify the difficulties encountered and lessons learned by the POs in the implementation of their action plans; and

47 An action plan contains a list of activities that aim to change behaviors/practices that impede the empowerment of women. For example, participate in training courses on cowpea storage techniques, educate girls, or build warrantage warehouses. These activities can be undertaken by the PO members themselves, in collaboration with REGIS-AG, in collaboration with other partner projects such as REGIS-ER and SWAKI, LAHIA, PASAM-TAI, and/or with the local government. 59 • propose appropriate solutions to the difficulties faced by the POs in implementing the action plans to improve future community dialogues.

Conduct of the evaluation: The team selected a random sample of 30 POs from 20 villages where the community dialogue activity was carried out in FY16-FY17. These villages are in 10 communes in the three intervention regions (10 PO in each region). The 30 POs were randomly selected from the list of 45 POs which had attended the community dialogue sessions. In each region, the 10 POs were distributed as follows: 4 small ruminant POs, 3 cowpea POs, and 3 poultry POs. The team also selected a number of POs which did not participate in the FY16 and FY17 community dialogues to be able to compare current behaviors between the two groups. In the end, the evaluation was conducted with 35 POs: 26 POs that had participated in community dialogues48 and 9 POs that had not participate in community dialogues.

The discussions were organized for each PO except in cases where more than one PO is in the same site. In each site, discussions were organized by value chain. Opinion leaders, religious authorities, and village chiefs participated in the discussion. The interviews were conducted in Haoussa in Maradi and Zinder and in Zarma in Tillabéri. Each PO selected was represented by 5 members including a ReCom. Participants were grouped as described in the table below:

Table 37 : Number of POs involved in interviews

Number of participating POs Number of Region Value Chain planned POs that attended POs that did not Total POs the community attend the dialogues community dialogue Cowpea 3 3 2 5 Tillabéri Small ruminants 4 2 2 4 Poultry 3 1 1 2 Cowpea 3 3 2 5 Maradi Small ruminants 4 4 2 6 Poultry 3 3 0 3 Cowpea 3 3 0 3 Zinder Small ruminants 4 4 0 4 Poultry 3 3 0 3 Total 30 26 9 35

Findings: The POs interviewed showed encouraging results in terms of the implementation of their action plans, as detailed in the tables below. PO members described several constraints encountered in the implementation of community action plans. These included: (i) delays in the implementation of warrantage credit, the overall lack of credit for inputs, and challenges in accessing credit more generally, (ii) departure

48 The project conducted interviews with 26 PO which participated in community dialogues (instead of the 30 planned) because of (i) the lack of an action plan by 3 POs in Tillabéri (1 poultry PO and 2 small ruminants POs), and (ii) the cancellation of a field mission due to insecurity in the Torodi commune of Tillabéri which prevented an interview with 1 poultry PO. 60 of certain large partners at the end of the contract (LAHIA, SAWKI, etc.), and (iii) insufficient number of functional literacy centers.

Table 38 : Rate of implementation of the activities in PO action plans, Tillabéri

Value Number Name of the Rate of Chain of PO POs achievement Poultry 1 Kernafa 45% Small 1 Yarou 1 40% ruminants 1 Muyanl 60% 1 Djamjabo 75% Cowpea 1 Wafakay 73% Average 59%

Table 39 : Rate of implementation of the activities in PO action plans, Maradi

Value Number Name of the Rate of Chain of PO POs achievement 2 Hadinkai et Tatali 83% Poultry 1 Tatali 83% Small 2 Union Taimako 71% Ruminants 2 Union Zumunci 64% 1 Tashi Da kanka 83% Cowpea 2 Himma 67% Average 75%

Table 40 : Rate of implementation of the activities in PO action plans, Zinder

Value Number Name of the Rate of Chain of PO PO achievement 1 Zumunci 90% Poultry 1 Alhéri 80% 1 Sarka Daradja 60% 1 Dashi daka barci 60% Small 1 Takayci 60% Ruminants 1 Nassara 70% 1 Mungané 80% 1 Alkawali 100% Cowpea 1 Tallalin manoma 100% 1 Jahili ambarka 73% Average 77%

Members of cowpea POs in Tillabéri and Zinder (which participated in community dialogues) informed the team that they were developing advertising to attract customers (packaging with the group’s logo), and many

61 more women are participating in warrantage. However, cowpea POs in Maradi (which did not participate in community dialogues) report that very few women are participating in warrantage and tend to focus instead on petty trade (doughnuts made from cowpea flour). Members of small ruminants POs in Zinder and Tillabéri (which participated in community dialogues) reported that women are knowledgeable in raising sheep and goats (i.e., they know how to choose animals for fattening, how to raise them, and how to sell them for a profit). In addition, women are selling animals themselves and participating in fairs. In contrast, small ruminant POs in Maradi (which did not participate in community dialogues) shared that women are not going to the livestock market themselves to sell their animals because of the social stigma. Members of poultry POs in Zinder and Tillabéri (which participated in community dialogues) reported that women are organizing group sales and that husbands are helping their wives construct poultry housing. In contrast, poultry POs in Maradi (which did not participate in community dialogues) shared that women’s household responsibilities prevent them from profiting from poultry activities.

Table 41 : POs interviewed which not participate in community dialogues in FY16 and FY17

Name of the Region Value chain Number of POs POs Tillabéri 1 Barey Cowpea 2 Yarou 1 Binekanay Small ruminants 1 Lassabou Poultry 1 Wafakay Cowpea 2 Nakikarfi Maradi Small ruminants 1 Agama lahiya 1 Hadin kay 1

In Burkina Faso, gender-related activities emphasized women’s inclusion in accessing finance, focusing particularly on collateral guarantees. Collateral requirements are generally a greater obstacle for women than for men. Women often do not have many valuable goods whereas men often have items which can serve as collateral (such as rolling machines, land properties, plows). In Q4FY19, the Gender Specialist held discussions with representatives of financial institutions during the warrantage assessment workshop highlighting the practice of joint guarantee. This is when women are able to benefit from the collateral of men, either within their PO or their spouse. In Q1FY19, Gender Specialist conducted sensitization sessions for POs on this same practice during the 3 regional workshops on facilitating access to agricultural inputs (particularly PICS bags). For mixed POs, she encouraged men in the group to allow female members to benefit from their collateral through joint guarantee. For women’s POs, she encouraged the women’s husbands to participate in value chain activities so that their property can serve as collateral to facilitate their spouses' access to credit. Many men in mixed POs now accept the idea of the joint guarantee. During the poultry cluster evaluation workshop for Song Venessé, female participants praised this provision, reporting that their husbands were willing to provide receipts for their property for use as collateral.

62 3.5.2.2. Governance specific complementary activities Stronger institutions and governance will provide an essential source of stability that contributes to building resilience. It will also provide the enabling environment needed to facilitate inclusive economic growth and economic sustainability. As a result, strengthening the governance of beneficiary PO is one of the essential pieces of REGIS-AG value chain development strategy. The project governance activities in FY19 focused on strengthening the governance of beneficiary POs and transforming POs into GIE. Monthly dues payment for KASARWA GIE in Zinder

a) Sub-Activity 4: Monitor governance

In Niger in FY18, REGIS-AG supported the transformation of 40 POs into 16 GIEs (Economic Interest Groups) through the transformation workshops. In FY19, the project is continuing to support these new GIEs it facilitated the creation by helping them obtain official documents and the implementation of action plans the developed themselves. These documents include the following: RCCM, NIF, declaration to the tax authorities, declaration and affiliation to the CNSS, communal authorization, and opening of the bank account. The project support includes assistance in drafting and signing partnership agreements between GIEs, REGIS-AG, the SME Incubator Center in Niger, the Authorized Management Center of Niamey, and the Center for Investment Promotion.

In Q1FY19, the Governance Specialist made the first of a series of monitoring and supervision missions planned for FY19 to facilitate the obtaining of official documents and the implementation of GIE action plans. This first trip was done to the Zinder and Maradi regions (November 26 - December 6th) to monitor 7 GIEs through meetings with the Chamber of Commerce and a visit of the GIE.

Meeting with the Chambers of Commerce: On November 27th, the Governance Specialist and the Small Ruminants Coordinator met with executives of the Zinder Chamber of Commerce (Director of the CFE, head of the branch, business advisor) to discuss the GIE’s level of progress in obtaining formalization documents. The rate of completion for the RCCM, communal authorization, the declaration to the tax authorities, the declaration and affiliation to the CNSS, and opening a bank account stand at 100% for all regions. The NIF can take more time than the other documents. In Zinder, only 29% of GIEs have received their NIF, while no GIEs in Maradi and Tillabéri have received theirs. The process will continue in Q2FY19.

The team also held a meeting in Maradi regarding obtaining the RCCM for the relevant GIEs. The meeting was held with the Director of the Business Formality Center, the Director of the Center of Authorized Management, and the Regional Director of the Maradi Chamber of Commerce. After this meeting, the Regional Director of the Maradi Chamber of Commerce pledged to meet with the Chief Clerk of Justice to resolve this problem. As a result, as of November 28, all GIEs in Maradi region all have obtained a RCCM. Table 42 : Level of achievement in obtaining GIE official documents

Région % of GIE that have obtained

63 Declaration Declaration Opening of Communal RCCM NIF to the tax and affiliation the bank authorization authorities to the CNSS account Zinder 7 / 7 = 100% 2 / 7 = 29% 7 / 7 = 100% 7 / 7 = 100% 7 / 7 = 100% 7 / 7 = 100% Maradi 5 / 5 = 100% 0 / 5 = 0% 5 / 5 = 100% 5 / 5 = 100% 5 / 5 = 100% 5 / 5 = 100% Tillabéri 4 / 4= 100% 0 / 4 = 0% 4 / 4 = 100% 4 / 4 = 100% 4 / 4= 100% 4 / 4= 100%

Total 16/16= 2 / 16 = 16 / 16 = 16 / 16 = 16/16= 100% 16/16=100% 100% 13% 100% 100%

The Chamber of Commerce also shared information about opportunities within their institutions for the further development of these GIEs. For example, a grants program structured as follows: bank loan 50%, grant 40% and contribution 10%. It should be noted that the grant will start in a short time and SMEs already working with the Chamber of Commerce have priority. More specifically, the Chamber of Commerce has made the commitment to draft a collaboration agreement to support GIEs with respect to the keeping accounts, a five-year plan with economic model, and other points to be specified in an agreement with REGIS- AG in Q2FY19.

Visits to the GIEs in the field: From 28 November to 4 December, the team spent one day with each GIE to: (i) evaluate action plans; (ii) to share with REGIS-AG’s planned governance activities for FY19 to ensure they are integrated into their action plans; (iii) share opportunities offered by by the Chamber of Commerce; and (iv) discuss partnership arrangements. In total, field visits at Zinder included 369 individual participants (29 men and 340 women) from the 7 GIEs. The main conclusions of these visits are as follows: • The action plans of GIEs in Zinder have an implementation rates ranging between 50% - 80%. The action plans activities that were not implemented are access to finance and capacity building which are dependent on REGIS-AG planning. • Women’s lack of literacy (over 90% for the groups visited during this mission) continues to impede women’s ability to run their businesses. • Collaboration was strong between the small ruminant GIEs and the livestock auxiliaries (AE) set up by ProDAF and REGIS-ER in the Zinder region, specifically in Bandé and Matamèye. The next step is for the GIEs to elaborate and sign agreements with the AEs in their zone for the treatment of their animals • It is necessary to continue the process of linking GIEs with ProDAF and PASEC.

The project will carry out a monitoring and supervision mission for GIEs in the Maradi region in January.

In Burkina Faso, REGIS-AG work with POs on governance issues in Q1FY19 focused on monitoring the implementation of action plan POs developed to strengthen their governance. For the transformation of POs into GIE, there was no activity carried out in Q1FY19 in Burkina Faso because, in 2018, the President of Burkina Faso signed a decree mandating POs to transform into registered cooperative societies.49 As such, with a view to the commitments of POs to microfinance institutions, REGIS-AG opted to support the

49 Décret n°2018-0025/PRES/PM/MJDHPC/MATD/MAAH/MEEVCC/MCIA 64 conversion of the POs into cooperative societies in Q1FY19 to comply with the presidential decree. REGIS- AG is in the process of taking stock of its POs, which have already been transformed into a cooperative society by other partners. Once this point is achieved, REGIS-AG will enter into collaboration with the regional directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture to facilitate support to the remaining POs for their transformation into cooperative societies. Q2FY19 will be devoted to monitoring the transformation of POs into cooperative societies and training their leaders on all issues related to good governance.

3.5.3. Strengthen resilience/disaster risk reduction (DRR) capacity of communities During Q1FY19, the project focused on (i) finalizing the preparation of a contingency plan for destocking small ruminants in the event of a crisis, and (ii) facilitating access to market and climate information in communities via ReComs.

a) Sub-Activity 1: Finalize the production of a contingency plan for destocking small ruminants in case of crisis During Q1FY19, the team continued the preparation of an emergency plan for destocking small ruminants by analyzing the data collected in FY18 from 445 producers in 20 communes of Niger and Burkina Faso. The DRR specialist also prepared a literature review. The production of contingency plan was carried out and a draft is expected to be submitted for review by stakeholder and USAID in Q2FY19.

b) Sub-Activity 2: Facilitating access to market information and climate information in communities During Q1FY19, the project worked to identify a telephone company to work with for the sharing of early warning messages to the communities through the ReCom. Companies were reviewed in terms of their coverage and quality of service in the areas of intervention. Based on inputs from REGIS-AG participants, the project selected Airtel Niger and drafted a collaboration protocol in October 2018. The protocol will be presented for the review and signature of Airtel Niger in Q2FY19. PART 4 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project management activities focused on ensuring adequate project staffing, meaningful reporting, effective communication, and adequate planning and monitoring. This part of the report presents activities REGIS-AG carried out in these areas during the reporting period (Q1FY19).

4.1. Project staff count

4.1.1. A stable staff count throughout FY18 with minimal turnover As reported in the FY18 annual report, REGIS-AG started FY19 with 73 employees distributed in the seven (07) project offices as detailed in the following table.

Table 43 : REGIS-AG staffing and geographic distribution at the beginning of the FY19

Number of staff Co-location with Project offices Technical Admin & Finance Total REGIS-ER In Burkina Faso: 20 9 29 - 65 • Ouagadougou 6 6 12 Yes • Dori 10 2 12 No • Fada 4 1 5 No In Niger: 35 9 44 - • Niamey 15 7 22 No • Maradi 5 0 5 No • Tillabéri 6 0 6 Yes • Zinder 9 2 11 No

In addition, there were 10 vacant positions due to the resignation of the Communication Specialist and the departure of SNV employees after the termination of SNV’s subcontract with CNFA. As presented in the table below, six (06) of these positions have been filled and replacements for the remaining four (04) are being sought.

Table 44 : Status of the replacement of SNV employees that left the project after SNV exit

Employee name/Position Post location Replacement status Akadiri Souleymane, Niamey, Niger The former holder of the position was rehired as CNFA Capacity Building Manager staff. He was mobilized on November 1, 2018 Laouali Salifou, Niamey, Niger The former holder of the position applied and was rehired Component 4 Lead / Access to as CNFA staff. He was mobilized on November 1, 2018 Finance Advisor Bachir Issa, Niamey, Niger The Input supply specialist (Yaou Salifou, CNFA employee) Component 5 Lead was promoted in the position and his replacement identified (Mahamadou Daouaye) and mobilized on November 1, 2018 Alio Dadi, Zinder, Niger A replacement was identified but contracting was Livestock and Dairy Market unsuccessful. A new replacement has been identified and Access Specialist his contracting is being processed. Ousseini Mahaman Sani, Zinder, Niger The former holder of the position applied and was rehired Cowpea Market Access Specialist as CNFA staff. He was mobilized on August 5, 2018 Brigitte Ouédraogo, Ouagadougou, The Dori Office Manager (Edouard Sédégo) was promoted Livestock and Dairy Market Burkina Faso in the position. The Assistant admin, finance and logistic Access Specialist officer (Eric Ouedraogo) was promoted as Dori Office Manager. His replacement is being sought. Sanogo W. A. Aron, Ouagadougou, This is an additional position SNV requested to strengthen Livestock and Market Access Burkina Faso its team in FY16. Now that all SNV positions have become Advisor CNFA position, a replacement will not be sought for this vacancy. Abdoul Kader Sawadogo, Dori, Burkina The former holder of the position applied and was offered BDS/Innovation Specialist Faso the position and then decided not to join. A new replacement being sought. Hamado Sawadogo, Dori, Burkina Replacement identified (Mrs. Zeba Diarratou) and Cowpea Marketing and Export Faso mobilized on November 1, 2018. Specialist Communication Specialist Ouagadougou, Replacement identified and mobilized on October 8, 2018, Burkina Faso and then resigned few days later. A new replacement being sought.

4.1.2. Staff mobility The project continued to operate with 7 vehicles and 14 motorcycles distributed as described in the table below. Staff mobility using motorcycles continues to be a challenge due to long distances to cover, road 66 condition (quality) especially during the raining season, and the insecurity situation. Staff have been using hired vehicles.

Table 45 : Number and status of REGIS-AG vehicles and motorcycles at the end of Q3FY18

Number Type Make Location Condition Burkina Niger Total Toyota Land Burkina: 1 in Ouaga and 2 in Dori All in good Vehicle 3 4 7 cruiser Niger: 3 in Niamey and 1 in Zinder condition Burkina: 1 in Ouaga and 1 in Dori All in good Toyota Land Motor 2 12 14 Niger: 4 in Maradi, 4 in Tillabéri, 4 in condition cruiser Zinder

Staff mobility using motorcycles continues to be a challenge due to long distances to cover, road condition (quality) especially during the raining season, and the growing insecurity situation. The employees were asked to use hired vehicles. The main challenge in project staffing will however continue to be to keep staff turnover as low as possible and the team focused on assigned duties and responsibilities. This is particularly accentuated with the launch of new projects in both countries. This will be handled through open dialogue with the staff and continuous dialogue between the team and the leadership of the organizations that constitutes REGIS-AG implementing consortium, which will complement the strategic focus sharpening to ensure a stronger project performance.

4.2. Administration of offices As reported in Table 43 above, the project staff operated from seven offices: the overall project coordination located in Niamey, the Burkina-level coordination in Ouagadougou, two Regional offices in Burkina Faso (Dori, Fada, and ) and three in Niger (Maradi, Tillabéri, and Zinder). Regional offices are managed by an Office Manager supported by an Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant. With the exception of Zinder, Office Managers are technical specialists hired for technical responsibilities. As a result, much of the heavy administrative assignments are handled at the coordination office in Niamey or Burkina Faso. The Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant handles the administrative and logistic duties as well as petty cash disbursements and the pouch and direct visitors. During the last USAID financial review in Burkina Faso, the reviewer observed that all three duties should not be carried out by the same individual. As a result, the Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant position will be replaced an Administrative Assistant position with responsibilities limited to handling petty cash disbursements, the pouch and directing visitors while the Office Manager will be responsible for handling administrative work and can be deployed outside of office to support workshop and training activities50. With the addition of MEL assistants and SNV exit and in response to observation made during the USAID financial review in Burkina Faso, CNFA engaged in reassigning staff to various responsibilities which imposes changes in personnel involved in administering the Dori, Fada and Maradi offices.

50 Note that in the FY19 work plan, CNFA instead envisaged to split the position of Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant into two: an Assistant Administrative Officer who will be handling administrative work and can be deployed outside of office to support workshop and training activities, and a Receptionist to handle petty cash disbursements, pouch and direct visitors. Given the limited workload in these satellite offices, the project management changed its initial plan from two positions to one position. 67 • In Dori, responding to SNV exit from the REGIS-AG consortium, the project reassigned the Dori Office Manager to the vacant position of Livestock and Dairy Market Access Specialist formerly held by an SNV employee. He is being replaced by the Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant Eric Ouédraogo who will now be responsible for handling administrative work and can be deployed outside of office to support workshop and training activities. The Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant position will be replaced by an Administrative Assistant position (to be hired) with responsibilities limited to handling petty cash disbursements, the pouch and direct visitors. • In the Fada office, Mrs. Antoinette Tiendrebeogo who is the Administrative, Accounting and Logistics Assistant will be reassigned as Administrative Assistant and an Officer Manager will be hired if approved by USAID. • In Maradi, REGIS-AG employees were co-located with REGIS-ER in a building REGIS-ER managed for the two projects on a cost-share basis. With the increase on the number of staff when new employees were hired (MEL Assistants), REGIS-ER could no longer accommodate the REGIS-AG team. The project team moved to a nearby building and this now imposes the need for the office to have its own office administration (to be hired), namely an Office Manager and an Assistant Administrative officer.

To this effect, these three Assistant Administrative Officer positions will be submitted to USAID in FY19 for approval. If approved, the contracts of the staff involved will be amended accordingly.

4.3. Management activities During the reporting period, the project COP provided the overall leadership of the project management. However, for each of the project components, specific staff members were formally assigned the leadership responsibility for the day-to-day management of activities under a component.

Key management activities carried out during the quarter are the following: a) Weekly project planning/review meetings were held with staff in Burkina Faso and Niamey; b) Skype-based meetings51 were held at least once a month with CNFA backstopping team in Washington DC. (In addition to routine day-to-day multiple email exchanges on issues related to REGIS-AG); c) One (01) face-to-face meeting held between the COP, the DCOP and Project Manager, once in Burkina Faso and twice in Niger, to develop a common understanding of various strategic orientations and discuss activity implementation. d) Multiple Project Manager’s meetings were held with staff in field offices in Niger and multiple DCOP meetings with staff in field offices in Burkina Faso during which they discussed how activities were being implemented and challenges encountered, as well as strategic orientation to integrate in the interventions.

51 These are meetings that bring together REGIS-AG management team (i.e., COP, DCOP, Program Manager, Value Chain Advisor, and DFO) and the CNFA backstopping team based in Washington DC (Program Manager, Program Coordinator, Finance Officer, and Vice President for Programs) to discuss updates on activities and administrative issues. They are led by the DC-based Program Manager who sends an agreed upon agenda before each meeting. This platform informs the Washington DC team guidance and support to the COP. 68 e) Continued to support to the project mid-term evaluation team.

4.4. Project Reporting and Public Communication During Q1FY19, project reporting focused on the following: • Finalizing the project FY19 work plan by integrating USAID comments and suggestions. It was first approved on October 23, and then reapproved on November 21 after integration of the pilot initiative for promoting guinea fowl businesses for youth. • Dra fting and finalizing a detailed FY18 annual report submitted to and approved by USAID. • Three monthly reports submitted to USAID submitted to and approved by USAID.

During the reporting period, the project continued the process of developing three 3 to 5-minute videos of REGIS-AG's success in livestock market reforms, promoting commercial production of poultry feed made from locally available products and participation in FIARA for small ruminant sales. The video will be shared with USAID for comments in Q2FY19.

4.5. Security The security situation in the ZOI was a major consideration during Q1FY19.

• In view of the security issues prevailing in Say, Torodi, and Terra in Tillabéri, the Niger government declared a state of emergency in these departments. As a result, all REGIS-AG suspended missions in these areas until further notice. • On December 31, the Burkinabé authorities declared a state of emergency in parts of the country including East and Sahel. A number of countries have recently revised their travel advice for Burkina Faso to caution against travel to the eastern region of the country.

CNFA home office and the project continuously monitored the security situation.

69 PART 5 - PROJECT PERFORMANCE - Level of Achievement in FY18 Expected Outcomes and Performance Indicators

5.1. Overview of REGIS-AG MEL System A Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) system is intended to meet three types of objectives: • Operational objectives: when answering the question of how program or project managers can track and improve implementation of activities. • Strategic objectives: when addressing the issue of whether the project is achieving its goals; hence the use of output/result, outcome indicators or progress markers, impacts, etc. • Learning objectives: when drawing and sharing of lessons learned from the program or project.

Under the REGIS-AG project, the focus of the MEL system is primarily on the operational and strategic objectives, and on the supervision and management functions. However, in support to the project communication efforts and SAREL activities under the RISE program, REGIS-AG MEL efforts are devoted to the learning function as well, especially the documentation and sharing of success stories. The system is designed to ensure the efficient tracking of the activity implementation process and to facilitate critical discussions to allow for informed decision making towards project objectives and implementation.

To this end, the specific objectives of REGIS-AG MEL system are therefore threefold: • To organize in a systematic way the collection of data , analysis and reporting procedures allowing for the prompt dissemination of reliable project information on its performance results based on the list of approved indicators; • To assess and document progress towards the project’s outputs and outcomes as stated in the logical framework and annual work plans to allow sound management decisions; • To document and share the project’s success stories and best practices within the project and externally within the RISE and non-RISE community.

In general, REGIS-AG's MEL system is built on the elements described in its USAID-approved Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP). Data collection focuses on field trips to either monitor and collect data or assess the quality of data already collected. Data are collected either by project managers during the implementation of activities or through surveys.

5.2. Activities carried out during FY18

During Q3FY18, monitoring and evaluation team activities focused on i) building an online database, iii) updating the M&E database, and iii) conducting the annual survey.

70 Activity 1: Strengthening the capacity of the MEL system

a) Sub-Activity 1: Building an online database The construction of a new M&E database, initially programmed for FY18, has crept into FY19 because of the delay in contracting with SECAM. The first activity was a framing meeting held on October 23, 2018 in the REGIS-AG office in Ouagadougou that brought together 12 participants including 3 SECAM technicians, all MEL staff from Burkina Faso, and other staff based in Ouagadougou. The meeting helped to harmonize the understanding of the terms of reference as well as to discuss a technical solution for deploying the database online. SECAM indicated that 3 technical solutions exist for making the database remotely accessible by different users online: (1) to host the database on REGIS-AG servers which requires the acquisition of relatively expensive complementary equipment which, in the context of the end of the project, does not seem necessary, (2) to host the database on the CNFA server which is both technically and financially feasible and would not incur any additional costs for REGIS-AG, (3) to host the database on the existing telephone networks in both countries which SECAM recommends as it is less expensive and easy to implement.

SECAM also undertook field visits to gather input from all stakeholders to build a database that can be used by all stakeholders. The first visit took place on December 20, 2018 in Dori. In parallel with the field visits, SEACAM began designing the various tools, including the tables and forms related to the indicators, using documents furnished by the REGIS-AG Monitoring and Evaluation Manager. A demonstration of the first version is scheduled for January 2019.

b) Sub-Activity 2: Update the monitoring and Evaluation data base This is a continuous activity carried out by the REGIS-AG MEL team, consisting of the availability of the data collection sheets for output indicators from the staff implementing these activities, especially the Value Chain Coordinators and the Value Chain Leads who oversee the filling of these sheets for each activity performed. The completed forms are transferred to the MEL Coordinators in the relevant region who perform the verification and entry into the database either by themselves or with the support of data entry providers.

The treatment of this data makes it possible to determine the level of each output indicator. The activities that helped to feed the performance indicator monitoring table were implemented at Component 2 and 3 level. These are (1) sensitization workshops for the FY19 warrantage activity; (2) workshop to support access to PICS bags and agricultural inputs for producers (3) the evaluation workshop for small ruminant business clusters. The input, processing, and analysis of these records made it possible to inform indicators (1) 2.2 (EG.3-2): Number of individuals receiving support from project activities, (2) 2.1: Number of POs receiving project support and (3) 5.2: Number of multi-stakeholder workshops organized by REGIS-AG. The results obtained are presented in the indicator tracking table.

Activity 2: Assessing project performance

a) Sub-Activity 5: Conduct FY18 annual survey

The purpose of this activity is to inform the following indicators:

• 0.1 - Value (US $) of smallholder Incremental sales (collected at farm level) generated with USG assistance;

71 • Gross margins (US $) per hectare for cowpeas, sheep, goat, chicken, guinea fowl; • 2.3 – Percentage (%) of households in which a woman has benefited directly from ownership of personal fields, new ownership of small ruminants or poultry, or involvement in a savings/loan program; • 2.4 – Percentage (%) of households engaged in a new income-generating micro-enterprise as a result of USG interventions; • 2.6 - Number of people using climate information or implementing risk-reducing actions to improve resilience to climate change supported by USG assistance; • 3.2 - Number of farmers and others who have applied new technologies or management practices with USG assistance; • 3.5 - Number of for-profit private enterprises, producers’ organizations, water users’ associations, trade and business associations, women’s groups, and community-based organizations (CBOs) that applied improved organization-level technologies or management practices with USG assistance.

Recruitment of data collectors REGIS AG launched a recruitment notice data collectors for the survey on outcome indicators in both countries in September. To apply, candidates had to fulfill the following criteria: (1) must have at least the 2nd year university level after the Baccalaureate, (2) have experience in conducting surveys especially for USAID-funded projects, (3) speak the local language of the project intervention area, and (4) have experience in collecting data with an Android phone. A total of 37 data collectors were selected, including 12 women (32%).

Training of data collectors for the annual survey The training for data collectors took place first in Burkina Faso from October 29 - November 1, 2018 in Kaya at the Pacific Hotel. It lasted 4 days and brought together the 18 data collectors and the Burkina M&E staff supported by the Niger MEL Specialist. In Niger, the training took place from November 6 – 9, 2018 in Niamey with 19 data collectors and was facilitated by the monitoring and evaluation staff of Niger.

The modules taught during these two sessions focused on: (1) the presentation of the REGIS AG project and outcome indicators, (2) the questionnaire, (3) the Kobocollect tool and using Android mobile phone to record data, (4) criteria to complete a successful survey, and (5) a pre-test in the real world to correct inconsistencies and evaluate the time it takes to administer the questionnaire. The pre-test provided the last corrections to the questionnaire which were later exported to the Kobocollect platform in which the team created an account to host the data.

Collection of survey data: Data collection took place in Burkina Faso from November 5 – 12 and in Niger from November 12 – 19 for a total duration of 8 days in all 6 REGIS-AG intervention regions.

The MEL team monitored the data collectors to ensure that they understood the questionnaire and that the survey was being administered according to the criteria established during the training. In Burkina Faso, the team carried out monitoring with each data collector and in 20 villages out of 86 (i.e. 23% coverage of the villages surveyed). Thanks to this monitoring, difficulties encountered, such as the shutdown of a smartphone 72 in Burkina Faso and the absence of certain respondents was solved by the replacement of the blocked phone and the absent respondents. The team also verified that certain conditions (such as the identification of a quiet place and the administration of the questionnaire to the respondent) were respected.

In Burkina Faso, 633 respondents, including 459 women (72%) out of an anticipated 630 from 128 POs were reached during the interviews. In Niger, the number of respondents reached was 661 including 460 women (70%) out of an anticipated 660 respondents. The number of POs reached in total was 132.

A male data collector administering the questionnaire to a A female data collector administering the questionnaire to a respondent in Falki Bab in Mirriah, Zinder, November 2018 respondent in Bafélé in Dori, November 2018

Analysis and processing of data The analysis and processing of the collected data took place from November 25 – 30 simultaneously in Ouagadougou and Niamey where the MEL staff from each country met. The work was conducted with SPSS and Excel software under the supervision of the two MEL Specialists. The team first calculated the weighting rates according to the Feed the Future (FtF) methodology for beneficiary-based surveys. These weighting rates were then used to weight the data collected from each respondent, allowing the results to be extrapolated to the entire population in which the sample was drawn. The second step was to clean the data for each indicator by making the necessary corrections for inconsistencies or outlier data that may introduce bias into the results. The last step was the calculation of the achieved level of the indicators. The results obtained are presented in the table of performance indicators

5.3. Status of achievement of performance indicators at the end of FY18 REGIS-AG Monitoring and Evaluation Plan includes a list of 26 indicators used to measure and report project progress and impact. All indicators used are designated as either Feed the Future (FtF) indicators (13) or custom indicators (13) developed especially for the REGIS-AG project. Sixteen (16) of these indicators are Output (OP) indicators while 10 are Impact/Outcome (I/O) indicators. Project performance on these indicators is presented in Table 33 below with justifications and observations.

73 Table 46 : Project performance and progress towards achieving project performance results

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) 0.1 - Value (US US $ by country: $) of Incremental − Total $4.21mil $0 $1,800,000 $467,390 26% $467,390 11% This indicator’s results are quite mixed sales (collected − Niger $ 912,032 $424,612 47% $424,612 20% sales are made throughout the year and at farm level) − Burkina Faso $ 887,968 $178,408 20% $178,408 9% producers do not record the sales data. attributed to US $ by VC Generally, producers tend to sell only program − Cowpea $820,588 $333,366 41% $333,366 17% when the household needs money. implementation − S. ruminants $608,824 $-205,832 -34% $-205,832 -14% Consequently, this indicator is not good − Poultry $370,588 $339,856 92% $339,856 39% to measure the resilience of producers. US $ by Sex: − Men $530,671 $ 116,147 22% $116,147 9% − Women $1269,329 $280,530 22% $280,530 9% 0.2a - Gross US $ by country: margins (US $) − Total $158 $120 $158 $129 81% $129 81% In a survey a survey format, it is difficult per hectare for − Niger $109 $99 $109 $140 129% $140 129% for producers to correctly estimate the cowpeas − Burkina Faso $157 $143 $157 $115 73% $115 73% variables used to determine gross US $ by Sex: margins; this is particularly the case of − Men $139 $126 $139 $136 98% $136 98% production, sale prices, and production − Women $124 $113 $124 $123 99% $123 99% costs. This is particularly true for small ruminants and poultry for which the disaggregation is done only during calculations by using group size as a weighting factor. 0.2b - Gross US $ by country: margins (US $ − Total $17.00 $0 $14 $21.74 155% $21.74 128% Same as above per adult animal) − Niger $0 $18.92 $18.92 for small − Burkina Faso $0 $29.26 $29.26 ruminants: US $ by Sex:

− Men $0 $21.09 $21.09 a) Goat − Women $0 $22.15 $22.15 US $ by country: − Total $17.00 $0 $14 $56.23 402% $56.23 331% Same as above b) Sheep − Niger $0 $54.24 $54.24 − Burkina Faso $0 $59.94 $59.94

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) US $ by Sex: − Men $0 $53.42 $53.42 − Women $0 $58.13 $58.13 0.2c - Gross US $ by country: margins (US $) for − Total $3.40 $0 $2.50 $2.87 115% $2.87 84% Same as above poultry : − Niger $0 $2.90 $2.90 − Burkina Faso $0 $2.79 $2.79

US $ by Sex: Chicken a) − Male $0 $2.85 $2.85 − Female $0 $2.95 $2.95 US $ by country: − Total $3.40 $0 $2.50 $4.93 197% $4.93 145% Same as above − Niger $0 $5.06 $5.06 b) Guinea − Burkina Faso $0 $4.24 $4.24 fowl US $ by Sex: − Male $0 $3.79 $3.79 − Female $0 $6.41 $6.41 2.1 - # of food # by country: security private − Total 753 753 0 0 753 100% enterprises, − Burkina Faso 369 369 0 0 369 100% producer, water • Cowpea user or 180 180 0 0 180 100% community- • S. Ruminant 129 129 0 0 129 100% based • Poultry 60 60 0 0 60 100% organizations, − Niger 384 384 0 0 384 100% women’s groups, • Cowpea 164 164 0 0 164 100% trade and • S. Ruminant 124 124 0 0 124 100% business • associations Poultry 96 96 0 0 96 100% receiving USG- # by New/Continuing: funded assistance − Total 753 753 0 0 753 100% − New 753 0 0 0 0 − Continuing 0 753 0 0 753 2.2 - Number of New/Continuing: The poor performance of the project in for-profit private − Total 52,105 38,161 52,105 38,340 74% 38,340 74% FY18 for this indicator is attributable to enterprises, − New - - 13,944 179 1% a change of strategy described for the producers’ − Continuing 52,105 38,161 38,161 38,161 38,340 light support group below.

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) organizations, Country water users’ − Total 52,105 38,161 52,105 38,340 74% 38,340 74% associations, − Niger 41,006 31,088 41,006 31,203 76% 31,203 76% trade and • New - - 9,918 115 business • Continuing 41,006 31,849 31,849 31,849 31,964 associations, − Burkina Faso 11,099 7073 11,098 7,137 64% 7,137 64% women’s groups, • New - - 4,025 64 and community- • Continuing 11,099 7,073 7,073 7,073 7,137 64% based Location: organizations − (CBOs) receiving Total 52,105 38,161 52,104 38,340 74% 38,340 74% USG food − Rural 52,105 38,161 52,104 38,340 38,340 74% security-related • New - - 13,943 179 organizational • Continuing 52,105 38,161 38,161 38,161 38340 74% development − Urban/Peri urban 0 0 0 0 assistance

a) Combined b) Heavy/Inte New/Continuing: nse − Total 20,184 20,292 20,318 20,318 20,471 101% support − New - - 0 0 − Continuing 20,184 20292 20,318 20,318 20,471 Country: − Total 20,184 20,292 20,318 20,471 101% 20,471 101% − Niger 12,248 12,382 12,382 12,497 101% 12,497 102% • New 0 0 0 115 • Continuing 12,248 12,382 12,382 12,382 12,497 − Burkina Faso 7,936 7910 7,936 7974 100% 7,974 100% • New 0 0 26 64 246% • Continuing 7,936 7,910 7,910 7910 7974 Location: − Total 20,184 20,292 20,318 20,471 106% 20,471 101% − Rural 20,184 20,292 20,318 20,471 106% 20,471 101% • New - - 26 179 • Continuing 20,184 20,292 20,292 20,292 20,471 − Urban/Peri urban 0 0 0 0 0

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) c) Light New/Continuing: The number targeted for project light support − Total 35,532 21,532 35,532 21,532 61% 21,532 61% support in FY18 was largely going to ne − New - - 14,000 - 0% - new beneficiaries of vaccination − Continuing 35,532 21,532 21,532 - 21,532 campaign supported by REGIS-AG. Country: Unfortunately, unlike in the previous − Total 35,532 21,532 35,532 - 61% 21,532 61% years during which the project − Niger 31,532 21,532 31,532 - 68% 21,532 68% supported the public sector in • New - - 10000 - 0% - organizing the vaccination campaign, in • Continuing 31,532 21,532 21,532 - 21 532 FY18, REGIS-AG instead focused on − Burkina Faso 4,000 - 4, 000 - 0% - 0% linking beneficiary producers with the • New - - 4,000 - 0% - SVPP because public sector effort had • Continuing 4,000 - 0 - - increased. Location: − Total 35,532 21,532 35,532 21,532 61% 21,532 61% − Rural 35,532 21,532 35,532 21,532 61% 21,532 • New - - 14,000 - - • Continuing 35,532 21,532 21,532 21,532 21,532 − Urban/Peri urban 0 0 0 0 0 2.3 – Percentage % by country: No data reported because savings/loan (%) of households − Total 25% 20% 11% 56% 11% 45% programs are the VSLA that are being in which a − Niger 10% 10% promoted by REGIS-ER and the DFAP. woman has − Burkina Faso 14% 14% Furthermore, REGIS-AG was not benefited % by VC: allowed to donate animals to its directly from − Total 25% 11% 11% 45% beneficiaries as is REGIS-ER does ownership of through its habbanaye intervention. The personal fields, − Cowpea 16% 16% − S. ruminants 4% 4% only intervention REGIS-AG has that new ownership contributes to this indicator is the of small − Poultry 11% 11% improvement in the usage conditions of ruminants or poultry, or land reclaimed by REGIS-ER. involvement in a savings/loan program 2.4 – Percentage % by country: (%) of households − Total 30% 7.0% 25% 11% 42% 11% 35% engaged in a new − Niger 30% 6.5% 25% 12% 48% 12% 40% income-generating − Burkina Faso 30% 7.4% 25% 8% 32% 8% 27% micro-enterprise

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) as a result of USG interventions 2.5 - Full-time # by country: equivalent (FTE) − Total 275 245 275 0 0% 245 89% The project planned to set up an jobs created with • New 0 0 30 0 0 0 additional SVPP in Niger in FY18 with

USG assistance • Continuing 275 245 245 0 0 245 89% 30 new AE that would have allowed the − Niger 170 140 170 0 0 140 82% team to meet its target. The process of • New 0 0 30 0 0 0 setting up the SVPP is taking longer • Continuing 170 140 140 0 0 140 82% than planned. As a result, this data − Burkina Faso 105 105 105 0 0 105 100% could not be reported in Q1FY19 as • New 0 0 0 0 0 indicated in the annual report; it will be • Continuing 105 105 105 0 0 105 100% reported in Q2FY19 when the process # by VC: will be completed. − Total 275 245 275 0 0% 245 89% − Cowpea 0 0 0 0 0 − S. ruminants 0 0 0 0 0 − Poultry 275 245 275 0 245 89% # by Sex: − Total 275 245 275 0 0% 245 89% − Male 252 222 247 0 222 − Female 23 23 28 0 23 2.6 - Number of # by country : people using The level of achievement was 25% in FY − Total 19,355 7,514 7,266 111% 15,560 80% climate 8,046 17 because only the use of PICS bags information or and vaccination were considered as an − Niger 12,743 4,947 4,784 98% 9,656 76% implementing 4,709 intervention contributing to risk-reducing strengthening resilience to the effects of actions to − Burkina Faso 6,612 2,567 2,482 134% 5,904 89% 3,337 climate change. The performance improve # by Sex: reported is higher in FY18 because resilience to other interventions have been added, climate change − Total 19 355 7,514 7,266 8 047 111% 15,561 80% − Male notably destocking of animals, the use as supported by 6,185 2,118 2,495 128% 5,311 86% of organic manure or the use of USG assistance 3,193 improved seeds. − Female 11,823 4,049 4,771 102% 8,903 75% 4,854 − Disaggregates 1,347 1,347 1,347 not available

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) 2.7 – Number of # by country : The high performance recorded in market − Total 111 114 10 0 0% 114 103% Niger is attributable to the fact that, for exchanges − Niger 63 86 5 0 0% 86 137% the FY18 edition of FIARA, the project (bourses) and − Burkina Faso 48 27 5 0 0% 27 56% used a new strategy in Niger to help fairs linking traders purchase animals from POs − International 1 1 sellers and supported by the project by organizing # by VC: buyers group sales in communes. Previous fairs − Total 111 114 22 0 114 103% clearly showed that most members of − Cowpea 40 25 10 0 25 63% the project beneficiary POs are not − S ruminants 38 67 5 0 67 176% market-ready enough to do business − Poultry 33 22 7 0 22 67% abroad. As a result, in Niger, the project organized multiple mini-fairs or group sales in communes where traders who are market-ready can purchase the animals from POs at prices higher than ordinary market prices. This was not done in Burkina Faso because it was the first time that these traders from Burkina were participating in FIARA 2.8 - Number of # by country : Currently 40 POs of 1,072 members women’s groups − Total 40 41 30 133% 41 103%% (64 men, 1,008 women) have gone transformed into − Niger 15 41 5 400% 41 273% through the transformation process, 7 GIEs − Burkina Faso 25 0 5 0% 0 0% in Zinder, 5 in Maradi and 4 in Tillabéri. # by VC: The project gave priority to Niger − Total 40 41 10 0% 41 103% because in Burkina Faso because the − Cowpea 20 21 5 0% 21 105% government had enacted a law that − S ruminants 20 20 5 0% 20 100% mandated the transformation of POs − Poultry 0 0 0 0 0 into cooperatives. 3.2 - EG.3.2-24 # by country : Number of − Total 21,152 13,750 4 306 7,778 178% 21,528 101% individuals in the − Niger 13,170 6,303 2,681 6,112 228% 12,415 94% agriculture − Burkina Faso 7,982 7,447 1,625 1,666 103% 9,113 113% system who have # by Sex: applied improved − Total 21,152 13,750 4,305 77,78 178% 21,528 101% management practices or − Male 6,800 4,794 1,478 1,822 129% 6,616 97% − Female 13,005 8,956 2,827 59,56 204% 14,912 115%

assistance 3.3 - Number of # by country : agro-dealers − Total 250 243 32 0 0% 243 97% trained in − Niger 126 125 16 0 0% 125 99% business − Burkina Faso 124 118 16 0 0% 118 95% management # by Sex: and technical − Total 250 243 32 0 243 97% skills − Male 223 216 0 0 216 97% − Female 27 27 0 0 27 100% 3.4 - Number of # by country : private − Total 10 9 1 0 0% 9 90% veterinarian − Niger 5 4 1 0 4 80% outreach services − Burkina Faso 5 5 0 0 5 100% (SVPPs) created 3.5 - Number of # by country : for-profit private − Total 550 420 60,24 59 98% 479 87% enterprises, − Niger 280 195 31 30 98% 225 80% producers’ − Burkina Faso 269 225 30 29 98% 254 94% organizations, # by organization type: water users’ − Total 550 420 60 59 98% 479 87% associations, trade and − Women groups 302 231 33 32 98% 264 87% business − Men groups 22 17 2 2 98% 19 87% associations, − Mixed groups 225 172 25 24 98% 197 87% women’s groups, # by VC: and community- − Total 550 420 60 59 98% 479 87% based − Cowpea 269 206 30 29 98% 235 87% organizations − Small ruminants 192 147 21 21 98% 168 87% (CBOs) that − Poultry 88 67 10 9 98% 77 87% applied improved organization- level technologies or management practices with USG assistance.

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) 3.6 - Number of # by country : No new organization received the for-profit private − Total 480 260 220 0 0% 260 54% project organizational development enterprises, − Burkina Faso 231 125 106 0 0% 125 54% producers’ assistance in FY18 as envisaged because, − Niger 249 135 114 0 0% 135 54% to be more effective, REGIS-AG organizations, water users’ focused coaching the POs in finalizing their roadmap as described in Sub- associations, # by VC activity 1 in section 3.5.2.2 under trade and − Total 480 260 220 0 0% 260 54% business component 5. However, the project − Cowpea 229 124 105 0 0% 124 54% associations, plans to add 169 POs in this activity by − Small ruminant 198 107 91 0 0% 107 54% women’s groups, the end of FY19. and community- − Poultry 54 29 25 0 0% 29 54% based # by New/Continuing: organizations − Total 480 260 220 0 0% 260 54% (CBOs) receiving − New 0 0 220 0 0 USG food − Continuing 480 260 0 0 260 security-related organizational development assistance 4.1 - Value(US $) US$ by country : of new private − Total $167,629 $0 $167,629 $0 0% $0 0% Although the performance for this sector capital − Burkina Faso $62,778 $0 $62,778 $0 $0 indicator is still zero, it does not reflect investment in − Niger $104,851 $0 $104,851 $0 $0 the reality on the ground because, after the agricultural training ReComs in data collection, sector or food US$ by VC investment made at PO level have been chain leveraged − Total $167,629 $0 $167,629 $0 $0 documented but they are not yet by Feed the − Cowpea $32,971 $0 $32,971 $0 $0 reported because they are being Future project reviewed for validation. The validated implementation − Small ruminant $59,548 $0 $59,548 $0 $0 − Poultry $75,110 $0 $75,110 $0 $0 data will be reported in Q2 FY19. US$ by New/Continuing: − Total $167,629 $0 $167,692 $0 $0 − New $0 $0 $167,692 $0 $0 − Continuing $167,629 $0 0 $0 $0 4.2 - Value (US US$ by country: $) of agriculture − Total $3,585,594 $341,341 $1,324,843 $341,341 10% During Q1 FY19, the credits disbursed and rural loans − Niger $1,454,042 $256,605 $ 705, 810 $84,987 6% to POs and presented in the access to

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) made as a result − Burkina Faso $2,131,552 $25,556 $348,561 $256,354 12% finance section of the present report of USG US $ by VC: ($42,346 for warrantage the East region assistance − Total $3,585,594 $341,341 $1,324,843 $341,341 10% in Burkina Faso) are not yet integrated − Cowpea $1,934,838 $256,605 $ 705, 810 $256,605 13% in this table because the verification − Small ruminant $929,497 $ 25,556 $348,561 $25,556 3% documents have not yet been filed. − These will be integrated in indicators Poultry $721,259 $59,180 $ 270,472 $59,180 8% 4.2 and 4.4 in Q2 FY19. US $ by Sex: $ − Total $3,585,59 $341,341 10% 341,341 $ $138,182 − Male 138,182 $ $139,893 − Female 139,893 − Disaggregation $ 63,266 $63,266 not available 4.3 - Number of # by New new and/or /Continuing: innovative − Total 12 9 3 0% 9 75% The innovation being considered in services − New 0 4 3 4 FY19 are donation of equipment that is planned for AE in the 9 SVPP the (including − Continuing 12 5 0 0 5 project has helped set up (5 in Niger insurance) and # by country: and 4 in Burkina Faso). These will be technologies − Total 12 9 3 9 75% available to VC procured in Q2FY19. − Niger 7 5 2 5 71% actors as a result − Burkina Faso 5 4 1 4 80% of USG assistance 4.4 - Number of # by country: micro, small, and − Total 6,512 2,642 2,127 - 0% 2,642 41% Same as in indicator 4.2. medium − Niger 2,973 691 945 - 0% 691 23% enterprises − Burkina Faso 3,539 1,951 1,182 - 0% 1,951 55% (MSMEs), # by Sex: including − Total 6,512 2,642 2,127 - 2,642 41% farmers, receiving − Male 1,333 638 390 - 638 48% agricultural- − Female 5,179 2,004 1,737 - 2,004 39% related credit as # by Size: − Total 6,512 2,642 2,127 78% 2,642 41%

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) a result of USG − Micro (1-10 6,512 2,642 2,127 78% 2,642 41% assistance employees) − Small (11-50 - 0 employees) − w Medium (51- - 0 100 employees) − Disaggregates Not Available

4.5 – Number of # by country: There has not been an award under the Strategic − Total 20 0 5 0 0% 0 0% 3S fund yet. But calls for the first Services Sub- − Niger competition was made for 38 bundles awards (3S) − Burkina Faso of services. The project received 35 awarded applications from 18 service providers (BDS) and preselected 23. After a desk assessment and due diligence field visits were carried out and completed. The selection memo is being finalized and award will be made in Q2FY19 in compliance with the 3s Fund management manual. In addition, a second call for proposals will be issued in Q2FY19 with the plan to award during the same reporting period. 4.6 - Number of # by country: business plans − Total 416 0 252 367 146% 367 88% developed with − Niger 224 122 11 11 USG assistance − Burkina Faso 192 130 356 356 4.7 - Number of # by country: Justification provided in Q1FY18: Our MSMEs, − Total interpretation of this indicator is that including − Niger every support we give to farmers are

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) farmers, − Burkina Faso business development services. receiving Consequently, this indicator captures business the same information we are capturing development under indicator 2.2. Based on this services from interpretation, we propose that it USG assisted should be dropped. services 4.8 - Number of # by country: public-private − Total 27 25 2 0 0% 25 93% So far, this indicator only capture the partnerships − Niger 16 15 1 0 0% 15 PPP in the livestock market formed as a − Burkina Faso 11 10 management the project has been 10 1 0 0% result of FtF strengthening. In FY19, the project plan assistance # by partnership to promote PPP between seed focus: producers and the public sector in basis − Total 27 25 2 0% 25 93% seed production and field inspection in − Ag. production 2 0 2 0% 0 0% seed production. Implementation of this − Ag. marketing 25 25 0 25 100% PPP will be part of the action plans that − Ag. transformation 0 0 0 0 will be validated for the development of − Nutrition 0 0 0 0 the Burkina Faso and Niger seed sub- − Multi-focus 0 0 0 0 sectors. 5.1 – Number of # by country: Several laws were reviewed in laws or regulatory − Total 10 0 10 0 0% 0 0% workshop platforms in Niger (FY16) actions advocated − Niger 6 0 6 0 0 0% and in Burkina Faso (FY17) to advocate by associations of − Burkina Faso 4 0 4 0 0 0% necessary reforms. Advocacy activities value chain actors are planned in FY19 but there is a (e.g., farmers, limited chance that these will result in agro-pastoralists, the adoption of laws or regulatory cooperatives, actions by the end of the project due to traders, processor, the intrinsically lengthy process of exporter adoption. Other advocacy intervention associations) and accepted by host will also emerged from the seed and fertilizer conferences the project is government organizing with host countries. 5.2 - Number of # by country: Although there was no target set for multi- − Total 57 55 0 5 60 105% this indicator in FY 19, multi- stakeholder − Niger 26 29 0 0 29 112% stakeholder workshops were − Burkina Faso 31 26 0 5 31 100% conducted in Burkina Faso when

Target achieved Target achieved to Target Unit/ Target FY18 (31/12/2019) date (FY15-19) Indicator LOP Target achieved Justifications and observations Disaggregation FY19 Rate Unit Rate FY15-18 Unit (%) (%) workshops # by VC: facilitating POs access to PICS bags. organized − Total 57 55 0 0 55 96% This was done in meetings that brought − Cowpea 24 19 0 0 19 79% together producers, distributors and − S. ruminant 13 13 0 0 13 100% agro dealers who market PICS bags but − Poultry 20 23 0 0 23 115% also microfinance institutions and state technical services and NGOs involved in the sector. There were also evaluations of the functioning of cowpea chain clusters in order to address the specific supports for more impact in the sales of the targeted products. 5.3 - Number of # by country: livestock − Total 25 25 0 0 25 100% markets − Niger 15 15 0 0 15 100% revitalized − Burkina Faso 10 10 0 0 10 100% through # by New/Continuing: community − Total 25 25 0 0 25 100% management − New 25 0 0 0 − Continuing 0 25 0 0 5.4 - Number of # by country: trade − Total 34 35 2 0% 35 103% associations / − Niger 23 35 1 0 0% 35 152% profession − Burkina Faso 11 0 1 0 0% 0 0% groups # by New/Continuing supported with − Total 34 35 2 0% 35 103% advocacy skills and strategic − New 34 2 0 0% 33 plans − Continuing 0 35 0 0 2 5.5 - Number of # by country: quarterly learning − Total 20 15 6 0 100% 15 75% meetings & − Niger 10 7 3 0 67% 7 70% project wide − Burkina Faso 10 8 3 0 133% 8 80% learning summits