The inception meeting for the Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder Agriculture (BRECSA) Project between the WFP and Tarayana Foundation, was held today at the Tarayana Centre. Relevant officials from both the organizations participated in the meeting.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐀 is a project that aims to transform smallholder agriculture into inclusive and resilient agri-food systems that are increasingly profitable and food and nutrition secure. BRECSA will target subsistence, semi-commercial and commercial farmer households to catalyze a 30% increase in resilient commercial agricultural production and improve food and nutrition security in the 4 target Dzongkhags by 2030. BRECSA will benefit 12,074 farmer households (47088 beneficiaries), out of which 60% will be women and 30% youth. The project will focus on livelihood enhancement and commercialisation of resilient agriculture production through value chain coordination, market engagement, and enhancing the competitiveness of the agri-food sector in the four target dzongkhags of Tsirang, Sarpang, Trongsa and Zhemgang, benefiting 539 villages. Funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) and the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD), the project includes three major components: resilient agriculture production; strengthened value chain and market linkages, and innovative and competitive agri-food system. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock leads the project implementation through a Project Management Unit based in Samtenling, Sarpang.
Tarayana Foundation is a local partner of the WFP, the project’s Technical Partner. The Foundation will be engaged with WFP in providing technical assistance in the ‘resilient agriculture production’ component. Tarayana will work with WFP to provide support to vulnerable groups to improve their income and nutrition, through focused nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions
During the meeting, Mr. Binai Lama, head of the WFP Food systems and Resilience Unit), presented the main components of the BRECSA Project, highlighting the activities under the technical assistance components. Emphasizing the importance of partnership and coordination, he highlighted the critical role of synergy between WFP and TF to ensure the successful implementation of project activities, aligning with the established service agreement.
The BRECSA Project is a vital initiative under the UN system, and the Tarayana Foundation is committed to putting forth its best efforts to ensure the success of this partnership program. This collaboration marks an important milestone in the region’s efforts to enhance food security and agricultural resilience. It will showcase the power of partnerships in driving meaningful change at the grassroots level.
We thank the WFP for the partnership and look forward to a fruitful engagement in serving our smallholder farmers.