Press release number: IFAD 44/02

Rome, Tuesday 25 October 2002. A loan agreement was signed today at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) headquarters by Mr Hamoud Ould Ely, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in Rome, and by Mr. Lennart Båge, President of IFAD. The loan to Mauritania, in an amount of USD 10.1 million, will help fund the ‘Maghama Improved Flood Recession Farming Project- Phase II’, with a total cost of USD 11.5 million.

This second-phase project aims to consolidate the major achievements of the first phase, particularly expanding the area’s agricultural development potential, promoting its effective use, and advocating more equitable land tenure arrangements, which ensure the access of the rural poor to productive land.

The project will contribute to the achievement of the country’s poverty reduction strategy. Project interventions would benefit 75 000 rural people in the Maghama, M’Bout, Selibaby and Kaedi Departments. Poverty is largely due to the area’s isolation from the rest of the country, and to the limited access of the population to technical and managerial know-how, markets, financial services, etc. To address these problems, the project will implement a three-pronged strategy: development of the social capital of the rural poor; rehabilitation of economic infrastructures; and improvement of income opportunities of the poorest groups. Beneficiaries will play a critical role in defining priorities, in implementation and in evaluating project interventions. This will be facilitated by an important capacity building program targeting user associations and community-based and producer organisations. These organisations will assume the main responsibilities for the proper operation and maintenance of community infrastructure.

IFAD cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania has spanned more than 20years, and this project is the tenth IFAD-funded operation in your country, which brings IFAD cumulative funding to Mauritania, in the form of loans and grants, to more than USD 74million.

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IFAD is a specialized 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 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.