ACED ANNUAL REPORT March 23, 2011 through March 31, 2012

The project's objectives are to increase the profitable participation of small and medium-scale commercial farmers in high value agriculture activities and to support the development of small and medium enterprises and service providers in Transnistria. The ACED project is based on a value chain approach, which involves a comprehensive description and analysis of the production and marketing cycle of specific products and markets. This approach requires an examination of the production process, external factors such as government policy and credit availability, post-harvest practices, and infrastructure availability. An analysis of target markets is also conducted to identify specific governmental and market requirements that producers must meet to be successful. The project has two components: Growing High Value Sales and Supporting MSMEs in Transnistria. The first component focuses on increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-scale commercial farmers in high value agriculture activities, while the second component aims to support the development of small and medium enterprises and service providers in Transnistria. In the first year of the project, several key achievements were made. Rapid start-up was achieved, with assessments and surveys conducted to identify key challenges and opportunities. Market linkage development and producer training were also implemented, with over 2,500 farmers receiving training in sustainable agriculture techniques. Market-driven technical assistance was provided to help farmers access new markets and improve their competitiveness. The project's progress toward indicator targets is presented in Chapter III of the report. The report includes a results tracking table and explanations of specific indicator outcomes. Cross-cutting issues addressed by the project include monitoring and evaluation, gender integration, environmental compliance, and project communication. The ACED project is jointly funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The project's budget and level of effort (LOE) are discussed in Chapter V of the report. The project's implementation team is responsible for addressing any questions or comments about the report. The value chain approach used by the ACED project involves identifying constraining factors that must be mitigated to improve the overall efficiency of the value chain. A deeper analysis of these constraints, involving value chain participants, serves as the basis for developing specific action plans prioritizing key constraints. Interventions on behalf of a particular value chain might take place in many places at the same time, including direct assistance to producers, input suppliers, and service providers. The project's Generic HVA Value Chain Map is used to identify constraining factors and develop specific action plans. This map examines the production process, external factors, post-harvest practices, and infrastructure availability, as well as target markets and governmental and market requirements. The map is used to identify key constraints and develop action plans to mitigate these constraints and improve the overall efficiency of the value chain. The ACED project's implementation structure is designed to address the ambitious objectives set out for Component 1 of the project. The project's designers decided early on that a value chain approach would be the most effective way to address these objectives. The value chain approach is based on specific products and markets, and requires a comprehensive description and analysis of the production and marketing cycle. This approach is used to identify constraining factors and develop specific action plans to mitigate these constraints and improve the overall efficiency of the value chain.