Bio-diversity

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The main economic activities of Rodrigues are agriculture and fishing. Rodrigues, since its autonomy in 2002, plans to further promote itself as an Organic Production island. The island has a rich heritage of traditional food items, which can be produced and marketed with an organic label. Giving a boost to Rodriguan agriculture is one of the main activities defined in the five-year Plan for the Non-Sugar Agricultural Sector. Training of farmers and planters in Rodrigues, the adoption of new technology with a view to enhancing their agricultural productivity has been well emphasized in the plan. Furthermore, it is reported that tourists in Rodrigues more and more request biovegetables as they fit with the image of Rodrigues as a tourist destination as being natural, typical and safe food. Local red bean pulse is one of the main traditional cash crops being grown by the planters of Rodrigues. It is a French kidney bean type that through years of production and selection has developed specific Rodriguan characteristics, in terms of taste and adaptation to a range of agro-climatic conditions that makes it very popular amongst the local people and visitors. The produce fetches a high price on market, compared to the price of the imported bean pulse (2 to 3 times higher). The Commission for Agriculture in Rodrigues is providing a wide range of incentives to the red bean planters who have regrouped themselves under a unique association. The overall objective is to increase production for the local market and for export. Equally, under the Food Security Fund, this project will benefit from the purchase of a tractor, drains rehabilitation and installation of irrigation reservoir and distribution to the tune of Rs. 4.95M. Thus, the contribution of the GEF SGP funds and the Food Security Fund will consolidate the services already offered to the bean planters. The targeted approach to the bean planters of Baie Topaz will further enhance quick result and visibility of the project. Objectives of proposed project The project aims at improving the production capacity of the bean producers in the region of Baie Topaz by making them more autonomous in their activities. Presently, they are depending on a great extent on the Agricultural Services for the preparation of their land as well as for pests and diseases control. Moreover, since numerous pests and diseases affect bean, the project aims at an integrated approach to reduce the frequency and the quantity of pesticides that are being used, thus lessening the side effects on the environment. The area is located quite near to the sea. Provision has been made in the Food Security Fund to put in place an irrigation system for the planters. This will include bringing the water from a reservoir to the planters field. Thus an irrigation system will be required for irrigating the bean crops. Bean is very vulnerable to shortage of water and in the west rainfall is very erratic. This project submitted to GEF SGP aims at providing planters with family drip system on a pilot basis to improve their production. Furthermore, since we do not know the origin of the bean that is being planted, the project aims at identification and characterization of the variety. This will help to maintain the purity of the local bean and identify ways for further research on the variety. If the product is going to be marketed with an organic or Rodriguan label, we will be able to know for sure whether the variety is unique to the island, to boost its commercial value. Samples of the seeds will then be stored in gene banks in collaboration with the institutions found in Mauritius. The aim is to market the produce with a geographical indicator, then later, once having been certified, with an organic label. The planters are already using manure in their plantation, but this is not enough to sustain and improve production. Since Master composters have been formed in previous GEF SGP/UNDP projects, these resource persons will be used to train and demonstrate to the planters the use of composters (windrow composting) for them to enhance the quality of manure being used presently. Provision will be made to have sealed containers for storing of seeds for next season planting and equipment for testing of seed viability, before storage and before planting. Crop failure due to poor germination rate is very common. Marketing of the produce will be done through the Rodrigues Trade and Marketing Co Ltd (RTMC). There is a high demand for the produce on the local and the national market. Organisation The NGO responsible for this project is the Association des Planteurs d Haricot de Rodrigues . It is the only association of the island for Red Bean and regroups most of the bean planters in the different regions. The main objectives are as follows: Clustering of bean producers Providing services to its members Increasing the quantity and improve the quality of bean being produced in Rodrigues Promoting the use of the product Promoting and safeguarding interests of its members, pertaining to the marketing of their products Suitability of project This project seeks to promote activities that demonstrate ways of adopting best practices to increase and improve bean production and combat land degradation. It concentrates on activities to conserve the local red bean and grow it sustainably. Bean is the main cash crop of these planters and it is planted every year at almost the same period. Only on

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