2008 - 2009
The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) was launched in an effort to establish a model for broad-based, community-led, development strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in rural sub-Saharan Africa. The project therefore supports a basic set of integrated interventions in health, education, energy, infrastructure and environmental management. In addition it has sought to improve the incomes of the poor by providing high quality seed and fertilizer.
The first of these projects was launched about three and a half years ago. Today, there are ten countries and 14 clusters in which the model has been replicated. Through the sustained introduction of these interventions considerable improvements have been made in each of the fields and it has resulted in an improved quality of life, and in most cases, to the alleviation of hunger.
We believe that this cannot be achieved without a major boost in agricultural productivity. For biophysical reasons relating to its rain-fed agriculture, unique crop mix, and limited transport infrastructure, Africa is the one region in the world not yet to have experienced a "green revolution" in agricultural productivity. The region's cereal yields have been stagnant at approximately one ton per hectare for the past generation. Meanwhile, growing population pressures and decreasing plot size have resulted in broadly documented soil nutrient mining and commonly decreasing food production per capita. Given the centrality of agricultural productivity to long term economic transformation, the Millennium Village project has therefore placed a special emphasis on ensuring sound science-based interventions to boost yields in staple crops, and subsequently in cash crops.
About Millennium Promise
Millennium Promise's mission is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals put forth by the United Nations by 2015. These goals include eight globally endorsed objectives that address the many aspects of extreme poverty. To that end, Millennium Promise works with impoverished communities, national and local governments, and partner organizations to implement high-impact programs aimed at transforming lives on the continent and engaging donor nations, corporations, and the general public in the effort. (www.millenniumpromise.org)
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