BACKGROUND

The “Supporting Smallholder Farmers in Asia and Pacific Islands Region through Strengthened Agricultural Advisory Services” or SAAS is a three (3)-year project implemented by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) with financial support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The goal of the project was to empower poor smallholder farmers in Asia-Pacific Region (APR) through access to improved, more effective, and demand-driven agricultural advisory services (AAS). The grant sought to achieve the following objectives:

1. Strengthen individual and organizational capacities of agricultural advisory service stakeholders in target countries and at regional and sub-regional level, which will directly benefit poor farmers, indigenous communities, and producers’ organizations; and,
2. Facilitate the availability and accessibility of appropriate and up-to-date knowledge and evidence on innovative advisory services from a range of sources in the APR region (through country fora and through APIRAS) and worldwide (through GFRAS).