DATES: September 2008 - September 2009

 

This project began in late 2008, as a $60 million one-year project with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), designed in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), and jointly funded by USAID, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), to address the 2008 food crisis.  Vouchers were provided to selected farmers (the “vulnerable but viable”) across 18 northeastern, northern, central, and western provinces entitling farmers to pay only a basic cost-share of 15 percent for improved wheat seed and fertilizer.  In June 2009, AVIPA expanded into AVIPA Plus, where a second wheat seed and fertilizer voucher program was conducted in the same 18 provinces, although the co-pay was increased to 35 percent, and a stabilization component was added to support coalition efforts in Hilmand and Kandahar provinces.  The project’s value increased to $360 million, and stabilization activities include agriculturally-based “hold” activities such as vouchers for horticultural seeds and tools, cash-for-work programs and grants-in-kind to cooperatives.  In August 2010, MAIL requested a third wheat seed and fertilizer distribution on a national basis.  AVIPA Plus is currently undertaking this distribution, expanding to cover 31 provinces (the Japanese through FAO and UK’s DFID will cover the remaining three), while stabilization activities continue in Hilmand and Kandahar provinces.  The third distribution increased the AVIPA Plus budget to its current $431 million.