Report No. PID8999 Project Name Kosovo-Emergency Farm Reconstruction Project Region Europe and Central Asia Region Sector Livestock; Other Agriculture Project ID KOPE69325 Public Disclosure Authorized Borrower(s) UNMIK (RECIPIENT) Implementing Agency Address UNMIK THROUGH FAO Department of Agriculture under the Joint Interim Administration Structure (JIAS) Government Building, Pristina, Kosovo Contact Person: Mr. M. Farinelli, Co-Head of the JIAS Department of Agriculture Tel: 381-38-500.223, ext567 Fax: 1-212-963-8603 Public Disclosure Authorized Email:
[email protected] Environment Category C Date PID Prepared June 12, 2000 Projected Appraisal Date January 2000 Projected Board Date June 2000 1. Country and Sector Background Prior to the conflict in Kosovo between March and June 1999, the rural population accounted for around 65 percent of the total population in Kosovo. An estimated 90 percent of this rural population was engaged in Public Disclosure Authorized agricultural activities either on a full or part-time basis in the years preceding the conflict. As a direct consequence of the conflict, some 75 percent of the rural population was subject to mass migration: some 43 percent of the rural population took refuge abroad and a further 32 percent became internally displaced. By September 1999, around 85 percent of families that had previously left their homes had already returned to their village of origin. As a result of this disruption (and prior months of rising and often violent tensions in 1998) agricultural production as well as related processing industries almost came to a standstill in 1999: the spring cropping season of 1999 was largely forgone and the 1999 wheat harvest was a fraction of normal levels (45 percent of 1997 production).