Press Release No. IFAD/2001/13

Rome, 26 April 2001 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide loans for 6 development projects for a total worth of USD 74.2 million. The Fund’s Executive Board that met at the Headquarters in Rome approved loans for Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Grenada, Honduras, Pakistan and Sao Tome and Principe. The Executive Board also approved grants worth USD 8.2 million for the Caribbean Regional Unit for Technical Assistance (CARUTA); the Rural Financial Services Support Programme; and agricultural research programmes, four of them to be implemented through CGIAR centres and two to be implemented by non-CGIAR centres.

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COUNTRY: Armenia

PROJECT: Agricultural Services Project

TOTAL PROJECT COST: USD 20.6 million IFAD LOAN: USD 15.5 million

The four year IFAD initiated Agricultural Services Project targets small farm households with 230 000 families. The project will cover eight of the most disadvantaged provinces in the country. The aim is to increase incomes and improve the well being of small farm households by intensifying crop production, promoting irrigation development and providing rural finance services. Women, in particular, are expected to benefit, as they will have easier access to borrowing. The project includes a micro-finance component. The project will consolidate activities and institutional arrangements made under the North-West Agricultural Services Project and the area of project focus will be expanded to include other poverty zones at high altitude.

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COUNTRY: Bosnia and Herzegovina

PROJECT: Livestock and Rural Finance Development Project

TOTAL PROJECT COST: USD 25.5 million IFAD LOAN: USD 12.0 million

The country’s transition to a market economy has been slowed by war, as has been the revival of the rural economy. This six-year IFAD initiated project will focus primarily on developing the traditional livestock production sector, which is important for the rural economy. The income and quality of life of some 21 000 small farm households (approximately 84 000 people residing and returning populations), are expected to improve with investment in rural infrastructure. The overall objective is to develop a replicable model of sustainable small-scale commercial livestock production. To achieve this, the project will assist the rural poor, men and women, by contributing to the development of small scale, private-sector, market orientated livestock production. Approximately, 9 000 individuals or women headed households will be targeted to ensure inclusion of women in project activities.

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COUNTRY: Grenada

PROJECT: Rural Enterprise Project

TOTAL PROJECT COST: USD 7.6 million IFAD LOAN: USD 4.2 million

The country’s exposure to natural disaster (tropical storms and hurricanes) regularly cause serious damage to Grenada’s infrastructure and contribute to keeping the poor in a poverty trap. The IFAD initiated 6 year project will address the needs of at least 3 000 rural households, helping them to adapt and adopt to appropriate strategies already applied by poorer households. The project will foster market linkages, strengthen communities for self-development and encourage a diverse range of long term sustainable income sources.

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COUNTRY: Honduras

PROJECT: National Fund for Sustainable Rural Development Project-Phase II

TOTAL PROJECT COST: USD 30.0 million IFAD LOAN: USD 18.0 million

In Honduras, the highest levels of poverty are in the hillside areas amidst a degraded and vulnerable natural environment with low agricultural productivity. The damage caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 affected severely the rural poor and the indigenous populations; they lost homes, crops, plantations and livestock. The household economy of the target population is based primarily on the subsistence production of basic grains and earnings from coffee harvesting. The overall objective of this 6-year IFAD initiated project is to promote the equitable access of poor rural communities. The project will directly benefit some 15 000 households, a total of approximately 96 000 people comprised of small landholders, landless farmers, the indigenous and at least 30% of rural women; 1,000 micro-enterprises are also expected to benefit.

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COUNTRY: Pakistan

PROJECT: North-West Frontier Province Barani Area Development Project

TOTAL PROJECT COST: USD 98.7 million IFAD LOAN: USD 14.5 million

The overall goal of this seven year project is to reduce poverty in remote areas, especially among smallholders and the landless and to improve the status of rural women who, in these traditionally conservative areas, are disproportionately burdened with poverty due to their low social status. The project will cover 832 villages located in nine districts and reach 83 000 households. The target group is mainly small farmers, landless farm labourers, tenant farmers, sharecroppers and those engaged in rural off-farm occupations.

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COUNTRY: Sao Tome and Principe

PROJECT: Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme

TOTAL PROJECT COST: USD 13.4 million IFAD LOAN: USD 10.0 million

In Sao Tomean society, the poorest groups are the artisanal fishermen and small farmers. Stringent economic policies and external factors such as cocoa price fluctuations in the world market have contributed to their low incomes. This 12 year IFAD initiated project aims to improve the living conditions and incomes of the households and further the development of grass-roots organizations. The target group includes 3 000 artisanal fishing households in isolated areas, about 7 000 smallholder families covering all the rural areas of the country.

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COUNTRY: Nepal

PROJECT: Poverty Alleviation Project in Western Terai-New Project Component REALLOCATION OF FUNDS

In March 1998 the project in Nepal became effective. As a result of a supervision report’s findings that a major subset of IFAD’s target group in the Terai (ex-Kamaiyas) require specific and urgent development assistance, a new project component was proposed, at the request of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal. The need to address a humanitarian crisis facing the ex-Kamaiyas was beyond the scope of the project and hence approval of the Executive Board was requested to include a Kamaiya rehabilitation activities component in the project design and reallocate funds categories.

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IFAD is a specialised agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 578 projects in 114 countries, allocating almost US$ 7 billion in the form of loans and grants. Through these projects, about 250 million rural people have had a chance to move out of poverty. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favourable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.