Press Release No. IFAD/2001/24

Rome, 12 September 2001 –The 73rd Executive Board of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that ended its meeting held at the Headquarters in Rome, approved loans for 7 development projects for a total worth of USD 122.5 million. The projects approved are for Bangladesh, India, Lebanon, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Nigeria. The Executive Board also approved five Technical Assistance Grants worth USD 5.0 million.

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Country: Bangladesh
Project: Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management Project
Total Project Cost: USD 34.3 million
IFAD Loan: USD 22.0 million

The main objective of the eleven-year IFAD initiated Resource Management Project is to increase the income of poor households. The high incidence of poverty in Sunamganj is primarily due to low cropping intensity as the area is under water for about five to six months a year. The project target group will consist of the landless, marginal and small-farmer households and women, approximately 135 000 households are expected to benefit directly from the project. The project aims to provide credit for on and off-farm income-generating activities; facilitate access to natural resources and support the conservation of the resource base; and generate employment through labour-intensive infrastructure development.

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Country: India
Project: Livelihood Security Project for Earthquake-Affected Rural Households in Gujarat
Total Project Cost: USD 24.0 million
IFAD Loan: USD 15.0 million

A seven-year project has been initiated by IFAD in response to a request by the Government of India to develop a disaster-mitigation project for the areas affected by the massive earthquake which struck the State of Gujarat in January 2001, leaving thousands displaced, injured or dead. The objective of this project is to provide greater livelihood security to those vulnerable households that are in a harsh, disaster-prone and increasingly fragile natural environment. The project will forge a partnership with the Self-Employed Women’s Association and help the affected people to develop the capacity to cope with future crises. The project will cover specific areas in three districts selected on the basis of the fragility of the livelihood systems

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Country: Lebanon
Project: Cooperative Rural Finance Programme
Total Project Cost: USD 37.4 million
IFAD Loan: USD 12.8 million

Despite Lebanon’s well-developed commercial banking system, the country is suffering from poverty resulting from urban-rural and regional inequalities in per capita income and lack of opportunity. The poor are also unable to engage in productive income generating activities. The overall goal of the ten year IFAD initiated programme is to reduce rural poverty by increasing household incomes. Initially, the programme will focus its interventions during the first phase in 12 districts of four provinces of Southern Lebanon. The target group will comprise some 250 000 people including agricultural smallholders, landless, rural women and fishermen.

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Country: Malawi
Project: Rural Livelihoods Support Programme
Total Project Cost: USD 19.6 million
IFAD Loan: USD 13.5 million

Rural poverty in Malawi is mainly attributable to landlessness, very low agricultural productivity, inadequate education and lack of off-farm employment opportunities. Infrastructure is poorly developed and most rural areas are inaccessible. The devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemics have further compounded the difficulties faced by the rural population. The objective of the nine-year IFAD-initiated programme will be to improve poor rural communities’ access to and efficient use of resources. The programme will be implemented in the southern region, and it is expected to include three districts with a total population of about one million.

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Country:Mauritania
Project: Poverty-Reduction Project in Aftout-South and Karakoro
Total Project Cost: USD 17.0 million
IFAD Loan: 11.3 million

The aim of this six year IFAD initiated project is to reduce poverty and improve the incomes and living conditions sustainably among the adwaba settlers (former slaves and others considered lower castes, who, after independence, settled in camps around towns and along major roadways). 80% of the population here is considered to be poor; in the Departments of Mbout, Kankossa and Ould Yenge, the project will specifically target the three most vulnerable groups – small subsistence farmers, women headed households and rural youth – beneficiaries totalling about 35 000 households.

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Country:Mozambique
Project: Sofala Bank Artisanal Fisheries Project
Total Project Cost: USD 30.6 million
IFAD Loan: USD 18.0 million

The coastal communities in Mozambique are among the most remote and poorest in the country and are characterized by a consistent pattern of poverty and isolation. The primary objective of the five-year IFAD initiated project is to improve the social and economic conditions of the artisanal fishing communities in the area corresponding to the Sofala Bank, which covers the three provinces of Nampula, Sofala and Zambezia. These areas have more than 26 000 artisanal fishermen, located in 290 fishing centres. The primary target group will consist of artisanal fishermen and their families; women, and other direct beneficiaries such as fish traders, fishing gear suppliers, fish processors and boat builders.

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Country: Nigeria
Project: Community-Based Agricultural and Rural Development Programme
Total Project Cost: USD 101.6 million
IFAD Loan: USD 29.9 million

In the Northern states of Nigeria poverty is widespread with a high incidence of household food insecurity among the rural population. The development objective of the proposed seven-year IFAD initiated programme is to better the livelihoods and living conditions of rural communities in eight of the northernmost states. The overwhelming majority of the poor, rural inhabitants with incomes below the poverty line will constitute the target group, special emphasis will be placed on women and other vulnerable groups to overcome constraints faced by them.

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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 USD 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.