Name: Landell Mills
Price range: $

Project China

05/01/15 - 04/10/15

Fujian Farmland Utilisation and Demonstration (PPTA)

The government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assist the Fujian Provincial Government (FPG) in preparing the Fujian Farmland Sustainable Utilization and Demonstration (the project), which is included in ADB’s lending program for 2016.

Rapid urbanization has caused a decrease in the arable land in Fujian, from 1.26 million hectares (ha) in 1996 to 1.12 million ha in 2010. Together with the increasing population, it poses a serious threat for Fujian’s agricultural development. Fujian’s farmland has lost much of its soil fertility and suffered extensive soil erosion which can result in farmland degradation, frequent drought, serious waterlogging over its farmland areas and can affect crop productivity and consequently livelihoods of those involved in agriculture.

This PPTA will assess the project's technical, economic, and financial feasibility in achieving the project outcome of climate-resilient and sustainable crop farming systems demonstrated in 16 project counties. The impact of the project will be improved long-term farmland productivity and rural livelihood in Fujian Province.

The project outputs will be (i) productive farmland established, which will entail improving terraces in upland areas for tea and oil tea plantation, developing farmland in lowland areas for other crops, improving irrigation facilities for part of the upland areas and the entire lowland areas, rehabilitating 25 km dikes for flood prevention for part of the lowland area of 20,000 mu, construction of drainage ditches, and (iv) installation of water storage and electric water pumps; (ii) sustainable farming technology and practices adopted, which will entail sustainable farming technology and practices being introduced along with soil conservation measures (e.g., application of organic fertilizer, no or low tillage, mulching, and tree plantation for windbreak and shade); integrated pest management; and other cropping technology (e.g., intercropping, or crop rotation and; (iii) institutional capacity strengthened, which will entail capacity development of specialized farmer cooperatives on cooperative operation, production technology, and marketing; (ii) capacity development of farmer’s trainers and farmers on good agricultural practices and technology, including requirements for green and organic product certification and the establishment of water user associations.

The project will aim to strengthen climate change adaptation by addressing climate change impacts on production systems via the Climate Smart Agriculture approach. Through promoting cooperation among project participating enterprises (PPEs), cooperatives and farmers the project also aims to help Fujian’s agriculture become more sustainable, productive, and market-oriented. It will also facilitate quality control throughout the value chain as Fujian promotes certified green and organic products, which fit with the organic and reduced chemical-use farming that the project will promote

Project

01/01/15 - 30/04/19

Review (Results-Oriented Monitoring – ROM) within the framework of EU's external assistance: Lot 3 – Review of implementation of projects & programmes financed by the EU for Asia-Pacific

Project South sudan

24/10/14 - 31/12/14

Technical Assistance for the Development of an Agricultural Pest Management Strategy in South Sudan.

Project Lebanon

15/09/14 - 15/09/16

Mid Term and Ex-post Evaluations of Lebanon Mine Action Programme 2013 - 2015

The overall objective of the project is to assist Lebanon in restoring the conditions necessary for the security of its population and its economic and social development. The specific objective is to contribute to reinforce the country ability to reduce the mine risk so that land can be released to the population, and that people continue to be informed and benefit from better socio-economic opportunities.

The EU intervention will be linked to the strategy and needs identified in the “2011-2020 National Mine Action Strategy” and build on the following activities aiming at reaching linked results:

1. Institutional support and capacity building

The LMAC needs to have its human and operational capacity strengthened in order for it to assume its role in overseeing, managing and coordinating all humanitarian clearance in Lebanon as it is currently staffed to face a long term residual risk.

Therefore the EU will provide the LMAC with institutional support through very specific expertise it still requires, essentially, but not exclusively, in the areas of strategy and policy planning, communication and overall coordination. This support should give the LMAC the ability to fully assume the mandate entrusted to it and fulfil the obligations deriving from the CCM in terms of reporting, advocacy, international cooperation and assistance.

2. Mine clearance activities

To ensure continuity with its past and on-going intervention the EU will finance de-mining teams to clear lands, and undertake the related activities, including training and equipment supply so that:

- Lebanon can meet the CCM obligations related to clearance and destruction of clusters and remnants and that land is released to the population;

- Lebanon has the technical expertise and the means to undertake mine clearance operations, and the related activities (surveys, quality control...), according to international standards, in conformity with its national strategy and the CCM obligations.

3. Mine victims assistance and mine risk education

Following the MVA/MRE strategy prepared by the LMAC, which also aims at complying with the related CCM obligations, the EU will mainly contribute to:

- Communication and information campaigns so that people are informed of the mine risk and the victims informed of their rights and benefits that are entitled to receive;

- Rehabilitation and reintegration activities so that people can take part again into socio-economic life.

The direct beneficiaries of this project will be

- The Lebanese population, especially those living in the remaining affected areas and resulted victims;

- The LMAC which benefits from the institutional support provided by the project.

In order to achieve the expected results and reach the targets, the programme has been divided into 3 main components :

- Institutional support in favour of the LMAC for EUR 1.9 million implemented through a Contribution Agreement with UNDP that has started in January 2013;

- Clearance activities for EUR 7.6 million : they are being implemented through 4 grant contacts with international NGOs;

- Mine Risk Education/Mine Victims Assistance for EUR 440,000 : implemented through a grant contact as well following an on-going call for proposal.

Project

01/09/14 - 30/05/15

Evaluation of DfID's Performance Management Funding of International Agriculture Research Centres

Project Lesotho

01/09/14 - 25/08/21

Support to the Management and Coordination of Development Cooperation in Lesotho

Project Nepal

04/07/14 - 30/11/20

Project Management Design and Supervision Consulting Services (PMDSC) under Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project (BRBIP)

Project Nepal

27/06/14 - 19/08/16

TA 7984-NEP: Mainstreaming Climate Change Risk Management in Development - Consultants for Sustainable Rural Ecology for Green Growth

The Nepal Biochar Project was a 2-year pilot project between the Government of Nepal and the Asian Development Bank, co-financed by the Nordic Development Fund. The project's main focus was to assess the viability for scale-up of the utilisation of biochar, a green growth technology, for addressing soil fertility (which has been declining in Nepal), crop productivity and resulting farm income, while reducing the import of chemical fertilisers (all of which are government priorities).

Biochar is essentially charcoal but, instead of being burnt, is used for a number of purposes including as a soil amendment. It is produced by burning biomass, such as crop residues, in a kiln at over 400°C in the absence of oxygen. While not in itself a fertilizer, biochar acts like a sponge, soaking up water and organic nutrients (e.g. from animal urine) making them available to plants. Thus, when soaked in cattle urine, as was demonstrated in the project, biochar becomes a highly effective organic fertiliser.

Landell Mills designed, implemented over 2 years, maintained, and collected data from government and farmer field trials in over 100 rural communities, testing the most effective ways to produce and utilise biochar. This has been the most extensive biochar field trial done worldwide to date. Statistically significant yield increases were observed for all crops tested, ranging from 20% (tomato) to 70% (tea), 200% (cabbage, chilli), and even up to 300% (pumpkin). While yield increases were observed to be higher in degraded soils, yield increases were also experienced in fertile soils, and across the three main agro-climatic zones. Due to the type of low-cost kilns used, the feedstock (particularly invasive weeds with no opportunity cost) and the application method (root zone rather than broadcasting), the cost of producing biochar-based fertiliser is lower than importing chemical fertilisers, resulting in net farm margin increases of US$400/ha for potato to US$5000/ha for cabbage. Margins could be even higher if successfully marketed as an organic product.

The use of biochar-based fertilisers also contributes to reducing greenhouse gases. The production of biochar means farmers burn less crop waste, while biochar does not decompose when applied to soil becoming a long-term carbon sink. The technique also replaces mineral fertilisers with organic waste liquids (i.e. animal urine) that would otherwise flow unused to rivers and groundwater. This reduces emissions of NO², a greenhouse gas that produces a climate change impact 300 times higher than that of CO². Altogether, the project demonstrated that one ton of biochar-based fertiliser can reduce the equivalent of 4 tons of CO².

Lessons learned were disseminated via farmer-to-farmer exchange workshops, field schools, peer reviewed scientific journals, national events and a guidebook, produced at the request of the government for use by agricultural extension agents and policy makers. Following the success of the project, the government is now incorporating biochar technologies into national programmes, which will impact upon many thousands of farmers.

Landell Mills was awarded the Development Project of the Year Award 2017 by British Expertise for its management of this project.

Project Afghanistan

09/05/14 - 31/05/14

Institutional Options Analysis for the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Programme

Project Comoros

26/03/14 - 17/07/19

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