SEEDS Project and PDSAE – Project Steering Committee Meeting Held

June 16, 2022

Project Steering Committee (PSC) Meeting of the SEEDS Project & PDSAE

25 May 2022, Ministry of Economic Development: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Maldives held the Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting of the Sustainable Economic Empowerment and Development for SMEs (SEEDS) project and its successor, Project for Developing Sustainable Agricultural Economy (PDSAE). Discussions of the project were held with the implementing partners, which includes the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture (MoFMRA), Agro National Corporation (AgroNat), the Business Center Corporation (BCC) and Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

The PSC meeting saw the closing of the SEEDS project and discussion of the work plan of PDSAE. Funded by the Government of Japan, the SEEDS project and PDSAE places emphasis on renewable and sustainable practices including innovative farming practices, reflecting a strong commitment to achieving economic development and diversification in line with the government’s sustainable blue economy vision.

SEEDS Contract Farmer from Laamu Atoll

Ashwa Faheem /UNDP Maldives

The SEEDS project provided important relief and fostered critical entrepreneurship spirit within the sector that has been deeply lacking. The project has laid the pathway for a generation of new agri-businesses, including farmers, that are innovative, productive and practice environment-friendly agriculture, supporting:

256 farmers (110 women) in contract farming
48 (27 women) agri-entrepreneurs in urban farming, including 6 plots for women, 8 plots for youth, 7 plots for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and 5 general category plots
597 entrepreneurs (121 women) through the first of its kind, ‘SEED by BCC’ co-working space
over 60 local businesses through the Authentic Maldives website
9 islands with the delivery of solar cold storage systems

PDSAE builds on the success of the SEEDS project and aims to further strengthen local productivity of agricultural produce in the Maldives. By doing so, the project aims to enhance food security in the archipelagic nation, which has very limited arable land, and enable more entrepreneurs interested in the agricultural businesses to enter the sector and facilitate secondary and tertiary production of related commodities including foodstuff and textiles. This will be achieved through three outputs focusing on: 1) strengthening assistance to increase local farmer expertise in agriculture, 2) enhancing agricultural capacities and opportunities to ensure food security and 3) enhancing support industries and value-added services to augment agri-businesses.