Millennium Challenge Account - Lesotho II Authority (MCA-Lesotho II)
Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH) Project Summary
Background
The Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH) Project is one of three projects under Lesotho's $300M Health and Horticulture Compact, which aims to increase rural incomes related to commercial horticulture, especially for women, youth, the rural poor and the people living with disabilities. The project aims to achieve this by building irrigation infrastructure covering up to 1,580 hectares in the four (4) irrigation schemes to be made available to commercial and smallholder farmers (SHFs). These four (4) irrigation sites include three that are in the northern district of Leribe namely: Likhakeng (100ha), Manka (600 ha) and Tsoili -Tsoili (760ha) as well as one in the southern district of Mohale’s Hoek called Phamong (120 ha). Identification of these sites was guided by a detailed feasibility study, which assessed factors such as water resources potential and availability, the topography, the suitability of soils for irrigation, social considerations to minimise resettlement, environmental and market factors amongst other issues. The Project will also establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management. In support of these objectives, MDIH will implement activities that build capacity and provide financial support to smallholder farmers as they transition from subsistence to commercial horticulture production. Specifically, the project supports programming to secure land rights and participation of existing landholders, including women and youth, in the irrigation schemes.
The design of the Project began in 2018, following the submission of concept notes by the Government of Lesotho. The Project seeks to attract private sector investment in the horticulture sector through funding irrigation schemes where demand for irrigated land from commercial farmers exists. The project has three main activies that are summarised in the next section below.
Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture Project Activities Summary
The Project is divided into three key activities namely, the Institutional Reform, the Integrated Horticulture Support Services and Irrigation Infrastructure. The Institutional Reforms Activity strives to reform Lesotho's legal framework and institutions with the view to strengthen delivery of services for irrigated agriculture, improve rural land administration, water resource management, and promote gender and social equity and inclusion. The second activity, Integrated Horticulture Support Services, provides support to scheme landholders, who may also be smallholder farmers; commercial investors; and other actors in the horticulture value chain to promote inclusive, profitable and sustainable commercial agriculture. A robust training and capacity building program will build the capacity of smallholder farmers in applying best practices in horticultural production, business management, Social and Behavior Change (SBC), scheme governance aspects etc.
The third activity is construction of Irrigation Infrastructure, covering up to 1,580 hectares in the four (4) irrigation sites namely: Likhakeng, Manka, Tsoili -Tsoili, (Leribe District) and Phamong (Mohale’s Hoek District). The construction includes water intakes, pumps, transmission and distribution pipes, dams, hydrants, access roads, catchment management structures, and training and services centers with demonstration plots that enable the development of commercial scale irrigation in the identified scheme areas.
Incentives targeting anchor farmer investment in the MDIH Project funded by the
MCC compact:
- • Schemes will offer investors secure and long-term tenure on fertile land, complete with irrigation infrastructure up to the investor’s land (designed to meet investor requirements), along with the necessary water storage and pumping facilities
- • Emphasis on empowering small-scale enterprises to be reliable suppliers of product, inputs, and integrated cold chain (ICC) services for investors at the horticultural irrigation schemes and for the economy as a whole
The MDIH infrastructure will include the following components:
- • Main System Infrastructure (MSI), to be funded by the Project - river abstraction water intakes and river pump station on the Mohakare (Caledon) River and Senqu (Orange) River, force main pipeline, river pumps, the seasonal water storage dam and reservoir
- • Irrigation Distribution Network (IDN), Infield Irrigation, Ancillary infrastructure which include service centre, electrical power supply and access roads
Technical Assistance
- • Each of the four MDIH Schemes will have an on-site support team of agricultural, business and social specialists, managed by a dedicated, on-site, Horticulture, Training, Gender, and Social Development (HTGSD) consultant. This will offer Training and Capacity Building Facilities (inclusive of Demonstration Plot and Experimental Site) to smallholder farmers.
- • Integrated cold chain (cold storage, refrigerated trucks, etc..) will be available at the service centers located in all the irrigation schemes to preserve the value of the produce from the farm gate to the consumer, including ICC, and CCM training through the HTGSD.