Press release number: IFAD

ROME, 5 November- A USD 12.84 million project in the Lebanese Republic - The Cooperative Rural Finance Programme Project' will receive a USD 12.84 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). A loan agreement was signed today at the Fund's Headquarters by H.E. Mr. Ali Abdallah, Minister for Agriculture of Lebanese Republic and Mr. Lennart Båge, President of the Fund.

Since 1992, IFAD’s assistance to post-war Lebanon aimed at increasing the income of the poor farm families through the provision of emergency-type assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction of assets. IFAD is gradually phasing out the post-civil war rehabilitation activities and increasingly moving towards establishing the basis for a sustainable development of the rural areas. IFAD believes that the socio-economic causes of rural poverty for men and women should be simultaneously addressed through agriculture development, improvement of health and social services, education, income generation, marketing, promotion of cooperatives and associations, and most importantly provision of rural credit

The new project will benefit an estimated target group of around 250 000 rural people in 50 000 households, and will include agricultural small farmers, the landless, small rural entrepreneurs, rural women and small fishermen. Most of them identified the lack of access to credit as the main obstacle to the betterment of their income. The lack of credit prevents the poor from engaging in productive activities, including small or medium on-farm and off-farm income-generating activities. They encounter great difficulties in access to banking and financial facilities. Programme beneficiaries are or will be members of rural producers’ cooperatives or rural savings and credit cooperatives. Most beneficiaries are located in Akkar, Batroun and Minieh in North Lebanon; Baalbek and Hermel in the Bekaa Valley; Bint-Jbeil, Hasbaya, Marjeyoun and Nabatiyeh in Nabatiyeh province; and Jezzine, Saida and Tyre in South Lebanon province. All of South Lebanon is included in the project. These areas have the highest concentration of low-income households.

The project will seek to promote in addition to supporting and financing activities of indirect benefit to the rural poor, such as the development of a national microfinance policy (including a cooperative policy), the Cooperative Rural Finance Programme will directly provide training, technical assistance and credit funds to the rural poor by: (i)establishing and developing Rural Savings and Credit Cooperatives; (ii)strengthening rural producers’ cooperatives; and (iii) providing credit funds.

With this programme, IFAD will have financed 4 projects in the Lebanese Republic, for a total loan amount of about USD 44.58 million.

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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 584 projects in 114 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.2 billion in 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.