Ra.L.A Project

PHASE I, II & III

The Ra.LA Project in a nutshell

The project, funded by the Italian Cooperation from 2018 to 2021 and implemented by CIHEAM Bari, aimed to respond to agricultural needs of rural population in order to increase the resilience of the local communities and stabilise them in the areas affected by war. The program has supported the agriculture sector, the main source of income and labour in the project area, contributing to improve the resilience of rural communities by reducing poverty and supporting the Syrian economy. The project actively contributed to increasing agricultural and livestock production and enhancing food security in the programme areas, despite all the security problems and the fluid situation inside Syria. Local Council Administrations, as an expression of the rural community, were strengthened and supported to activate effective agricultural and veterinary services for their farmers and breeders. In addition, the project rehabilitated a veterinary clinic and laboratory for the diagnosis of common animal diseases and for the training of veterinarians. Furthermore, Ra.LA. supported local women setting up women associations, encouraging income-generating activities managed by women in the target area. As part of these concrete efforts, the local associations and project technicians are the main partners of the project; in this way, thanks to the collaboration of local administrations, reconciliation between populations of different ethnicities and religions is fostered, increasing dialogue, farmers' work and profit, and economic exchanges.

ACHIEVEMENTS

11,232

Beneficiaries were reached through the programme

Farmers and breeders have strengthened the agricultural and livestock productions receiving inputs through a Cost Recovery approach

Farmers and breeders have been supported with agricultural and livestock inputs, namely fertilizers (Urea and Phosphate), phytosanitary products, concentrated fodder and veterinary inputs, including animal vaccines and medicines, with the aim to increase their agricultural and livestock productions and to decrease the production costs. The use of the Cost Recovery Mechanism (CR) is a key methodology for the input distribution, according to which farmers pay 70% of the inputs cost and the project guarantees a grant contribution of 30%. This approach allows to widen the service to more farmers and breeders enhancing local markets and sustainability of the services provided.

animal vaccinations administered by the programme

Improved veterinary services to farmers and breeders

Veterinarian services in Raqqa and Hassakeh were supported setting up three veterinary units. In close collaboration with the local administrations, vaccination campaign and technical field visits were carried out in order to bring veterinary assistance to local breeders. The project has equipped the vet centres with the necessary cooling chain equipment for the storage of medicines and vaccines, provided the medicines and vaccines, as well as ECHO Machine (for pregnancy tests). Besides, the project has provided Technical Assistance, has conducted seminars to breeders in many villages, and rehabilitated the first veterinary laboratory in Raqqa performing analysis for the most common animal diseases. Thanks to the collaboration with international experts from the Zooprophylactic Institute of Teramo-IZSAM, regular technical support for the implementation of the vet activities is ensured.

302,567

1,071

Rehabilitation of Agriculture Services

The project has strengthened the capacities of the local communities to sustain farmers through the provision of Agricultural Machinery, comprising tractors and equipment for the most common field and plant routine works. Despite border closure due to COVID-19 pandemic, the first agriculture services, together with the Agriculture Directorate of Raqqa, reached Syrian rural communities. The project provided an Early Warning Disease System (EWDS) which works as an efficient weather station enabling farmers to develop an alert system to prevent major plant diseases, linked to the climate change, from spreading. The provision of these services was accompanied by remote technical assistance seminars (RTA) on the correct use of equipment and EWDS addressed to project and local technicians.

farmers benefited from agriculture and veterinary advisory services

1,068

Improved capacities and knowledge to assist the Syrian Rural Communities

Through the Capacity Building activities implemented with the Remote Technical Assistance (RTA) and the continuous mentoring by the project team, the Syrian technicians gained competences related to crops treatments and livestock diseases. Courses were tailored to rural communities prevalent needs and were held by international professionals with expertise in agriculture and livestock sector. In order to reach more farmers and to disseminate adequate practices in remote areas, project technicians and veterinarians, after courses, visited villages and conducted seminars for farmers and breeders on the most relevant crops and livestock diseases, monitoring practices, diagnosis, and treatment. Capacity-building activities facilitated the dissemination of agriculture and livestock culture, enhancing local capacities and giving to rural communities the right tools to face daily issues.

697

cumulative nr participants to RTA courses

breeders/farmers attended field seminars

80

Income generating activities for women

The program incentivises Women Association’s to develop income generation activities in the local handcraft and food-processing. Two women associations, the “Zahrat al Banafsaj Association” and “Durrat Al Furrat Association”, have been supported technically and financially in the implementation of the existing income generating activities. Furthermore, one more group of women was selected for the development of a new entrepreneurial activity, the “Gardenia association”. The associations, located in North West and Northern Syria are active in dairy/yoghurt production, food processing of local agriculture products, bakery and confectionery. This initiative allowed to create profitable and sustainable job opportunities for rural women, enabling their integration into the local value-chain, reaching economic viability and financial self-reliance for their business ideas.

women involved in income generating activities

Rehabilitation and maintenance of the irrigation and drainage networks

After careful evaluation of the current conditions of the irrigation and drainage nets, project staff, in collaboration with local administrations, worked for the rehabilitation and maintenance of water nets. Engineering works have been carried out, integrated with the provision of machinery and technical assistance of an International Hydraulic Engineer who supported RCC as well as the project civil engineer with the rehabilitation activities of secondary and tertiary irrigation/drainage channels. Before the rehabilitation, the irrigation channel served about 200 HA, after its rehabilitation, the irrigation channel has the capacity to serve more than 522 ha of land. The irrigation and drainage networks are fully functional thanks to the cooperation of farmers' associations, with the ultimate goal of creating a virtuous mechanism of community water management.