Farm Machinery Rental The project involves the set-up and launch of a professional farm machinery rental business. Project financing will be used to purchase and refurbish used machinery and equipment and to provide training and knowledge transfer in multiple facets of the business. Training and knowledge transfer modules shall be carried out on technical subjects but also on the managerial aspects of a modern equipment rental company.Following start-up and training, the project plan foresees start of equipment rentals for the 2010 pluvial growing season. Initial machinery purchased will include tractors, levellers and various ploughing, planting and harvesting attachments, as well as excavators, front-loaders, other loading equipment, and machinery and personnel transport vehicles.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The farm equipment rental company will strive to provide rental services to sectors of the market that are normally difficult to reach (small farmers) for financial reasons. The company has begun discussions with microfinance partners, who have voiced initial interest in working with the company to provide financing vehicles for groups and individual small farmers.As mentioned above, safety training will be carried out with all employees, and employees with customer contact will also receive training on "training the customer" to observe safe behaviour around farm machinery.The company will be an equal opportunity employer and will recruit and employee personnel without regard to ethnicity, gender, etc.The company will also act with integrity and transparency and will not accept corrupt practices by employees or partners.Impact    Employment and working conditions60 employees will work for the company by the end of the project. The partners estimate that the company will employ 74 people, two years after completion of the project. In order to ensure safe working conditions, the company will support ongoing training for employees in safety and skill enhancement. The joint venture will also institute semi-annual reviews which will include employee feedback regarding working environment.Agrina has a special 'holidays programme' with the children of the employees. When they are free from school in the summer holidays, they are employed by Agrina and occupied with light jobs in the morning. They get classes in agronomy and other practical topics. Their 'salary' is used by Agrina to buy school books and school uniforms for them (which is in Senegal a major preoccupation for parents every year!). This has become a very popular 'vacation job' and nearly all the employees' children participate. The partners want to copy this programme also for the joint venture employees.    Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeThe knowledge transfer of professional business processes related to equipment rental business are new to Senegal. Also, formal training on use of tractor attachments and relation of mechanical skills to agricultural techniques is new outside of a few self-contained European-owned farming operations.The concept of businesses run according to formats and processes (such as in service franchises in Europe and the USA) is new in Senegal, so the planned training in new processes, which will be driven by forms and process flow maps, will bring an enhanced knowledge level that can be applied to other service industries (including healthcare, food services and tourism-related services). The value of this new knowledge is that it provides a formula for success in execution of operating service businesses - and reduction of errors and irregularities.    Chain effectsThe primary direct beneficiaries of the project are small and mid-sized farmers and the farm workers they employ, since the Project will assist them in increasing the hectares of production per farmer, the yield per hectare of production and food quality (and therefore price).Approximately 2/3 of residents in Senegal are involved in agriculture, and over 95% of farmers have little or no access to tractors and other basic farm machinery. Based on these figures, the total potential beneficiaries of farm equipment rental service exceeds 4 million people.Small and contract farmers and outgrowers: with the initial equipment purchased for the project, 18 tractors and 5 units of earth-moving machinery, and assuming average of 1 to 2 ha per farmer served, the project can serve 1,500 to 2,000 farmers per year (based on one season per farmer) or 800 to 1,000 farmers for farmers with irrigation who are able to produce twice per year.    EnvironmentThe project will have a positive effect on the environment. The Sahel suffers from the advance of desertification, and the use of ploughs, watering systems, and agriculture with wind blocks have been shown to reverse the process of desertification. Especially in the North of Senegal , the Sahara desert is only 50 km away. Due to the presence of the Senegal river, which has its sources far away in more wet areas, agriculture has a high, but relatively little used potential.Equipment purchased for the project will adhere to the norms of Europe and/or USA in terms of exhaust and fuel usage standards. No environmental certification is required.    Position of womenIt is foreseen that the majority of office staff will be women, and that the majority of equipment operators, drivers and security guards will be men. Likely positions of women employees include: company manager, bookkeeper, scheduling manager.The target customers of the project include small and mid-sized farmers. Approximately 50% of farmers in Senegal are women, and the project is expected to have a large, immediate impact on the annual incomes of small farmers, via improved mechanisation. To launch a company that rents tractors, ploughing attachments and other farming machinery to farmers in Senegals northern agricultural region, fulfilling the demand for farm equipment by users who cannot justify the purchase of equipment based on their o