Press release number: IFAD 19/02

Following his participation at the International Conference on Financing for Development, the President of IFAD visits the sites of two rural developments in Ixtlera and the Yucatan Peninsula from 22-27 March

Rome, Thursday 14 March 2002 - Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will arrive in Monterrey, Mexico on 17 March 2002 on a two-week visit to Mexico during which he will address the International Conference on Financing for Development and participate in its roundtable discussion before departing on 22 March on a week long field visit to the two IFAD-financed projects in the country.

President Båge’s first call will be to the States of Cohauila and Zacatecas where he can assess the many positive initiatives that have emerged from the Development Project for Marginal Rural Communities in the Ixtlera Region. The project covers five states in this region of Northeast Mexico: Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. The Ixtlera region is named because of the population’s longstanding tradition of gathering ‘ixtle’ (agave) thistles and palm leaves which are processed into hard fibres and are used for manufacturing industrial brushes and sacks.

IFAD’s project strategy has been to alter the production base of a region that is extremely dependent on highly subsidized ixtle production, with the added major constraints of water scarcity and an unfavorable environment for agriculture. The aim being to convert this into a production system geared to new products and new technologies, with higher returns on the resources employed. The projects objectives have been two fold, firstly on the water scarcity issue by: drilling of wells for water, rehabilitation of existing irrigation networks, training courses on efficient use of irrigation water, introducing sprinkler irrigation systems and carrying out gravity flow irrigation works. Secondly, to alleviate the poverty situation of project beneficiaries by providing campesinos (farmers) with an alternative to the ixlte fibre industry by introducing new production alternatives and microenterprises. Organized into peoples’ cooperatives and collective properties (ejidos), members actively participate in the implementation, administration and evaluation of the project. About 3500 women have benefited from the training courses and from financial and technical assistance in undertaking productive activities. Microcredit has been an essential component in this project by boosting the local economy and has provided options to many social ills such as migration.

President Båge will be meeting with the Governor of the State of Cohauila, Lic. Enrique Martínez y Martínez and with the Governor of the State of Zacatecas, Lic. Ricardo Monreal Ávila.

Lennart Båge will be traveling to the Quintana Roo State where he will meet with local project authorities, and visit activity centers of IFAD’s Rural Development Project of the Mayan Communities in the Yucatan Peninsula.

The Yucatan Peninsula is located in the southeast of Mexico and comprises 60 municipalities in the States of Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo. The indigenous presence in this region is one of the highest in the country and all of them belong to the Mayan ethnic group. Mayan communities have remained faithful to their customs and their language, and rural women play an important role in all aspects of Mayan life and culture. The main production system in the project area is the milpa system, which is characterized by the production of basic grains (maize and beans). By implementing this project, IFAD’s main objectives have bee to improve the living conditions, income, agricultural production of about 10 000 poor rural families who live in the Milpera region. Achieving this goal will be based on the capitalization of Mayan peasant holdings, the adoption of more productive technologies and an improvement in the use and conservation of natural resources and through gaining access to new markets with a diversified range of agricultural and non-agricultural products.

To date, IFAD has financed 5 projects in Mexico for a total commitment of USD 112.4 million.

---

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 603 projects in 115 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.3 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 available to low-income countries on very favorable 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.