INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATASHEET APPRAISAL STAGE

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1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized I. Basic Information Date prepared/updated: 05/18/2009 INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATASHEET APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: AC Basic Project Data Country: Haiti Project ID: P Project Name: Strengthening the Management of Agriculture Public Services (GFRP) Task Team Leader: Diego Arias Carballo Estimated Appraisal Date: April 27, 2009 Estimated Board Date: June 18, 2009 Managing Unit: LCSAR Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Sector: General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (100%) Theme: Rural policies and institutions (40%);Global food crisis response (40%);Rural services and infrastructure (20%) IBRD Amount (US$m.): 0.00 IDA Amount (US$m.): 5.00 GEF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 PCF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 Other financing amounts by source: BORROWER/RECIPIENT Environmental Category: B - Partial Assessment Simplified Processing Simple [] Repeater [] Is this project processed under OP 8.50 (Emergency Recovery) or OP 8.00 (Rapid Response to Crises and Emergencies) [ ] No [ ] 2. Project Objectives The project development objective (PDO) is to enable MARNDR to prioritize and target investments according to the agricultural sector policy, and improve local agriculture support services. Key indicators for the project would be: (i) the validation by the GTA of an agriculture sector policy; (ii) the change in the number of farmers receiving local agricultural services in pilot areas; and (iii) the change in the MARNDR s non-salary operating budget commitment rate. The proposed project represents the first stage of an expected fifteen to twenty-year engagement with Haiti on the agriculture public sector reform dialogue and development. The end goal would be that the Government, through MARNDR, regain the stewardship of the public sector resources going to agriculture, fulfilling its normative and regulatory and coordinating mandate. 3. Project Description Component 1: Strengthening MARNDRs Managerial Functions (US$1.9 million) would finance (at the central and local level) two subcomponents:

2 Subcomponent 1a: Sector policies and coordination (US$0.9 million). This subcomponent would finance the formulation and coordination of sector and subsector policies, the mainstreaming of environmental aspects within the agriculture sector policy, and the prioritization of investment and regulatory instruments, that are today fulfilled by the MARNDRs Direction Generale (DG) and its Programming and Studies Unit (UEP). Funds for this subcomponent will finance long and short term technical assistance, events, training, dissemination material, and web-site related expenses (equipment, software, connectivity). The main products of this subcomponent would be: (i) the dissemination of a validated agriculture sector policy; (ii) the training of staff in relevant policy issues for strengthening agriculture sector (and sub-sector) policy formulation and implementation; (iii) the establishment of an Environmental Technical Unit (UTE) in the MARNDR; and (iv) the holding of duly prepared sub-sectoral meetings to foster the exchange of knowledge and agree on harmonization measures on a voluntary basis between donors, NGOs and the Government. Subcomponent 1b: Enhancing Administrative, HR, and fiduciary capacity (US$1 million). This subcomponent would finance the improvement of MARNDR s administrative, HR, and financial capacity, including budgetary processes and procurement capacity by MARNDRs Directorate of Administrative Affaires (DAA). The DAA is the main interface with the MEF regarding budgetary issues for the operational budget and corresponding procurement and it will have fiduciary responsibility over the Banks project funds. The UEP is the main interface with the MPCE regarding budgetary issues of the investment budget (financed by funds from the TP). Funds for this subcomponent would finance long and short term technical assistance and ICT equipment and software, training, and other inputs. Products of this subcomponent would be: (i) procedural manuals for budget preparation, procurement, and administrative procedures for MARNDR staff; (ii) improvement in check issuance, procurement processes, project M&E, and harmonization of financial nomenclature between DAA and DDF (Departmental Directorate of Finance); (iii) improvement in internal and external communications by connecting MARNDRs staff to ; and(iv) improved human resources job profiles and job family descriptions and human resource management performance indicators. These activities would be given first priority among all project investments so as to strengthen the DAAs capacity to manage project funds (in addition to national and donor funds). It is foreseen that the increased capacity of DAA to manage Bank funds will enable the MARNDR to better manage other donor funds mobilized in support of the agriculture sector through direct financial management of funds by DAA, donor coordination activities, and sector policy work (see Subcomponent 1.a). Component 2: Strengthening Farmer Extension and Support Services (US$2.3 million). This component would finance the expansion of the provision of improved agriculture support services in two pilot areas, one around the Research Center of Les Cayes-Ferme Levi and the second one around the Research Center of Thiotte-Savane Zombi. Both pilot areas are in the Southern portion of the country, in a predominantly mountainous and humid ecosystem. This component will be executed under the overall responsibility of the DAA and in coordination with the UEP and the Directorate of Research and Training (DRF), and will finance: (i) technical assistance and training for extension

3 agents, farmers, farmer-groups and service providers (including environmental and social aspects); (ii) strengthening of local support service structures (R&D Centers and DDAs); (iii) the development of a farmer and service provider registry (including equipment and software); and (iv) incentive payments to farmers for adoption of improved agriculture technologies that are both revenue increasing and environmentally friendly. In both pilot areas it is expected that a service contract be awarded to existing private sector providers of agriculture support services with experience in the pilot area. The farmer registry will be a condition for implementing any farmer incentive payment scheme. Farmer incentives for adoption of technologies will need to meet certain criteria in terms of beneficiary eligibility, type of technology, and expected economic and environmental impacts. Products of this subcomponent would be: (i) creation of a farmer and service provider registry (managed by MARNDR) in both pilot areas; (ii) provision of agriculture extension services and incentive payments in the pilot areas; and (iii) completion of R&D studies by MARNDR in the pilot area. Component 3: Project coordination and supervision (US$0.7 million). Project execution will be under the responsibility of the DG and this component would finance incremental costs associated with project implementation. A five person team would work jointly in the various aspects of project execution. The project coordinator would be a member of the DG advisory team, while fiduciary responsibility (procurement and financial management) would be with the DAA. All efforts by the DG would be made to coordinate project implementation across MARNDRs units. In particular, there are a few activities that require overall project coordination in order to ensure the synergies between the various components and subcomponents of the proposed operation. These are: (i) the UEP and DAA would work together in implementing a system to track expenditures in investment projects; (ii) the UEP and DRF would work together in establishing the farmer registry at the national level, but that could be immediately used to extend farmer support services in pilot areas; (iii) the UEP would work closely with DRF to ensure the development of the agriculture risk management activities in the pilot area; and (iv) the UEP will work closely with DRF to ensure that the newly created environmental unit provides support for the mainstreaming of environmental issues into the activities of Component 2. To support this effort, this component would finance technical assistance, operational costs, and other costs necessary for project coordination. The program coordinator in the DG team would be the primary Bank counterpart for the purposes of project supervision and would interface with the fiduciary functions of the DAA. The coordinator would also supervise the work of the different Directorates responsible for the various subcomponents (DRF, UEP, DAA, and the DG itself). The coordinator would submit all documentation from the various directorates for the Banks information and/or clearance. He/she would also be responsible for identifying any gaps between programmed and executed technical, social, environmental, financial, and/or administrative activities related to project execution and Annual Operating Plans (AOP), follow-up on baseline and indicators performance, and provide support to independent evaluations and auditors.

4 4. Project Location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis Haiti (centralized MARNDR s offices in PAP and decentralized offices in rural areas)and two pilot regions located in the Southern portion of the Country: Les Cayes (Ferme Levi) and Thiotte (Savane Zombi). Component 1 will finance activities regarding institutional strengthening in the central MARNDR s offices in PAP, while Component 2 will finance agriculture extension and farmer incentives in two areas, around the R&D Centers of Les Cayes-Ferme Levi and Thiotte-Savane Zombi. The country is mountainous (80% of the surface) and does not lend itself well to production of field crops (28% is arable land), with the exception of some of the large irrigated valleys, and is a net importer of agricultural products. Yet there is an increasing demand for food products which could be sourced locally. However, quality and productivity of local farming are constrained by the dominance of small-scale subsistence farms, weak or non-existent agriculture extension services, insufficiently developed food supply chains, limited access to rural credit markets, and inability to meet increasingly important food safety standards. The natural and agricultural ecosystems and the livelihoods of inhabitants are under threat from several sources, including deforestation (97% of the country is deforested), soil erosion, increased intensity and impact of flooding, and unregulated livestock gracing (85% of the watersheds are deemed degraded). Therefore, improvements in the management of natural resources for environmental values will be required for a sustainable development of agriculture, as well as the appropriate development of local infrastructure and services to serve rural communities. Les Cayes. Ferme Levi is located next to the City of Les Cayes in the Southwestern peninsula of Haiti, with an area of approximately 10,000 hectares, ranging between 0 and 1400 meters of altitude. Two dry seasons can be differentiated: December-January and July-September; and two rainy seasons: February-May and October-November, with average temperatures ranging between 28o to 30o C. The region receives on average mm of rain per year. Two type of crops: permanent (coffee and fruit trees) mainly in hillsides and annual/pluriannual crops (maize, petit pois, rice, cabbage, etc.) in the irrigated plains. During the last years the evolution of the productive systems is characterized by an impoverishment of agriculture diversification, weak water and soil management and important deforestation upstream. Thiotte. This region is located in the Department of the South-East. The population of this Department is estimated in 6000 inhabitants and households. Thiotte is located over a plain with an altitude of more than 1000 meters over sea level, receiving on average 1800 mm of rain per year. It is a region of humid mountains with three crop seasons but with weak capacity of the land to retain water which obliges the small farmers to build small reservoirs. Savane Zombi is located next to the Pines Forest (la Forêt des Pins), protected natural park in which a natural forest is threatened by strong pressures from small farmers. The production of vegetables(potatoes, cabagge, carrots) and livestock are the main agriculture activities in this region. The products are sell in

5 Port-au-Prince and in Dominican Republic, where most of the supplies are procured (particularly, fertilizers). 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists Ms Natalia Gomez (LCSAR) Ms Rachel Hannah Nadelman (LCSSO) 6. Safeguard Policies Triggered No Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) Forests (OP/BP 4.36) Pest Management (OP 4.09) Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11) Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10) Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50) Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP 7.60) II. Key Safeguard Policy Issues and Their Management A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: The Project will not finance roads, irrigation, rehabilitation of irrigation or other production facilities, or any other physical facilities. The Project is mainly an institutional strengthening operation that will contribute to strengthen the institutional capacity of the MARNDR on formulation and application of agriculture sector policies and the improvement of the provision of agriculture public services, ensuring that environmental considerations are mainstreamed into agriculture sector policy, extension services. An economic incentives mechanism will be designed and offered to farmers in two selected regions (Thiotte and Les Cayes) to promote increased agriculture productivity and environmental-friendly cropping systems, ensuring the application of good agriculture practices and of environmentally sustainable interventions, particularly in basic grains, coffee, fruits and tubers, the main crops in the mentioned regions. Therefore, the Project may induce farmers to use fertilizers, pesticides, introduce new cropping systems and/or renew plantations. Environmental-friendly principles will be mainstreamed into (i) the MARNDRs agriculture sector policy and sub-sector policies; (ii) the economic incentives mechanism for increasing agriculture productivity, ensuring that environmental procedures and criteria agreed upon are applied(particularly in coffee, fruits and tubers production, the main crops in the pilot regions where the Project will operate), and (iii) extension services to be provided to farmers in the two pilot regions. In addition, the Project will strengthen the extension services in the selected zones to ensure the correct use of agrochemicals and pesticides, as well as to ensure the application of environmental-friendly agriculture practices. Experimental pilot farms will contribute to strengthen extension services and to train trainers and farmers on good and

6 environmentally sustainable agriculture practices. Environmental criteria will be mainstreamed into the content of agriculture extension services to be provided around the R&D centers of Ferme Levi and Thiotte. The Project would: (i) introduce screening environemental criteria that would be used as part of the approval process for the economic incentives program to ensure that Project resources do not finance agro-chemicals which are prohibited under the Bank s policies. The exact criteria would be included as part of the description of how grant applications will be evaluated; and (ii) develop guidelines, technical training services etc. on the relevant aspects of IPM that could be included as part of the extension and training services to be provided under the Project aimed at reducing environmental and health hazards associated with pest control and the use of pesticides. The procurement of agricultural chemicals, if done at all, would be done in compliance with the provisions of OP 4.09 with respect to eligible chemical products or their commercial formulations. Correspondent provisions would be incorporated into the Projects Operations Manual. 2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: No potential indirect and/or long term impacts are expected 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse impacts. No adverse impacts are expected. 4. Describe measures taken by the borrower to address safeguard policy issues. Provide an assessment of borrower capacity to plan and implement the measures described. The objective of the project is to strengthen the overall institutional capacity of the MARNDR, including M&E and environmental safeguards. The MARNDR is currently executing a WB IDA grant for Avian Flu which it is implementing, thorough their existing capacity, the environmental safeguards of the project. This is also the case for other donor funded projects, such as IADB and IFAD financed projects. Nevertheless, the environmental management capacity of the MARNDR at the central and local levels is very limited. The MARNDR and its decentralized structure will be strengthened to introduce environmental considerations into sector policies and to strengthen their environmental management capacity, including the establishment of an environmental technical unit (UTE) within the Ministry that will comply with the funtions of the UTES (Sector Environemental Technical Units). In addition, R&D centers or other extension services providers will be strengthened under Component 2 of the Project as to ensure implementation of environmental principles in small scale agriculture production, particularly coffee, fruits and tubers in the two selected regions where the Project will operate (Ferme Levi and Thiotte). 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. Main environmental stakeholders are: (i) Ministry of Environment (MDE); (ii) COTIME (Environmental Interministerial Commission); (iii) MARNDR (including the new sector

7 environmental group (SEG)at the Programming and Studies Unit, UEP) and its decentralized structure (Departmental Directions, Local Agriculture Bureaus and Research and Extension Centres); (iv)inter-sector Table (MARNDR-Donors); (v) Universities and NGOs (e.g. ICEF, AVNS); (vi) regional and local authorities; (vii) Cooperatives, Producer Organizations and individual farmers. The Project will organize a Project Launch Seminar with all relevant stakeholders at the national and regional levels to disseminate Project s PDO, components activities and budget and particularly to familiarize all relevant stakeholders with the Project s Operation Manual. In addition, key Project information, Project s Operation Manual, monitoring and evaluation reports, supervision aide memoires, consultants reports, etc. will be available for public consultation in the MARNDR s webpage. The Project s Operation Manual and other key documents will be translated into French and Creole. The Project will organize a Seminar/Training Sessions on WB s environmental safeguards to start building capacity in the MARNDR and its decentralized agencies, the regional and local authorities and project beneficiares. Training modules and educational material to be offered by extension services providers under Component 2 of the Project would include environmental criteria for the promotion of sustainable agriculture practices. B. Disclosure Requirements Date Environmental Assessment/Audit/Management Plan/Other: Was the document disclosed prior to appraisal? Date of receipt by the Bank 04/23/2009 Date of "in-country" disclosure 04/24/2009 Date of submission to InfoShop 04/24/2009 For category A projects, date of distributing the Executive Summary of the EA to the Executive Directors Resettlement Action Plan/Framework/Policy Process: Was the document disclosed prior to appraisal? Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Indigenous Peoples Plan/Planning Framework: Was the document disclosed prior to appraisal? Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Pest Management Plan: Was the document disclosed prior to appraisal? Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop

8 * If the project triggers the Pest Management and/or Physical Cultural Resources, the respective issues are to be addressed and disclosed as part of the Environmental Assessment/Audit/or EMP. If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why: An environmental and social framework (ESF) was prepared and disclosed before Project s appraisal. The ESF was disseminated and available for public consultation through the MARNDR s webpage. The Project s Operation Manual includes all relevant environmental screening criteria, procedures and requirements (in particular for the operation of the economic incentives mechanism and for the provision of extension services) and will be disseminated at the Project s Launch Seminar. The Project s Operation Manual and other key documents are in French and will be made available for public consultation in the MARNDR s webpage. C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at the Corporate Level (to be filled in when the ISDS is finalized by the project decision meeting) OP/BP/GP Environment Assessment Does the project require a stand-alone EA (including EMP) report? If yes, then did the Regional Environment Unit or Sector Manager (SM) review and approve the EA report? Are the cost and the accountabilities for the EMP incorporated in the credit/loan? OP Pest Management Does the EA adequately address the pest management issues? Is a separate PMP required? If yes, has the PMP been reviewed and approved by a safeguards specialist or SM? Are PMP requirements included in project design? If yes, does the project team include a Pest Management Specialist? OP/BP Forests Has the sector-wide analysis of policy and institutional issues and constraints been carried out? Does the project design include satisfactory measures to overcome these constraints? Does the project finance commercial harvesting, and if so, does it include provisions for certification system? The World Bank Policy on Disclosure of Information Have relevant safeguard policies documents been sent to the World Bank s Infoshop? Have relevant documents been disclosed in-country in a public place in a form and language that are understandable and accessible to project-affected groups and local NGOs? All Safeguard Policies Have satisfactory calendar, budget and clear institutional responsibilities been prepared for the implementation of measures related to safeguard No No

9 policies? Have costs related to safeguard policy measures been included in the project cost? Does the Monitoring and Evaluation system of the project include the monitoring of safeguard impacts and measures related to safeguard policies? Have satisfactory implementation arrangements been agreed with the borrower and the same been adequately reflected in the project legal documents? D. Approvals Signed and submitted by: Name Date Task Team Leader: Mr Diego Arias Carballo 04/13/2009 Environmental Specialist: Ms Natalia Gomez 04/13/2009 Social Development Specialist Ms Rachel Hannah Nadelman 04/13/2009 Additional Environmental and/or Social Development Specialist(s): Mr Glenn S. Morgan 04/13/2009 Approved by: Regional Safeguards Coordinator: Mr Reidar Kvam 04/13/2009 Comments: Sector Manager: Ms Ethel Sennhauser 04/14/2009 Comments: