Press release number: IFAD 47/05

Rome, 29 December 2005 – Poor farmers and wage-worker families living in 28 micro-watersheds in the Falcon and Lara states will benefit from a new development project in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The US$23 million Sustainable Rural Development Project for the Semi-Arid Zones of Falcon and Lara states (PROSALAFA II), will be co-financed by a US$15 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and US$4 million from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF). The Government of Venezuela will provide US$3 million and project beneficiaries will contribute US$1 million. The loan agreement was signed today by Director of the National Public Credit Office of the Finance Ministry Dr. Rudolf Römer Pieretti and Isabel Lavadenz-Paccieri, Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Division at IFAD headquarters in Rome.
Approximately 50,000 rural households in the Falcon and Lara states, home to many of the country’s poorest rural communities, will benefit from the new project, which will build on work begun during PROSALFA I. Most people in the region live in isolated, remote villages with limited access to healthcare, financial services, schooling, and markets. The project will strengthen the human and social capital in these areas and provide support for the social and economic development of the population.

At least 27 percent of project resources will be used for the rehabilitation and conservation of micro-watersheds, helping to promote the sustainable use of natural resources. The project will launch training and environmental education programmes geared towards providing a better understanding of the importance of existing natural resources. The project will also support soil and water conservation measures, an incremental water supply for drinking and agricultural production as well as a more efficient use of semi-arid rangelands for goat-raising.

In addition, the project will assist small entrepreneurs, rural youth and groups of small farmers through training, capacity-building, natural resource management and technical assistance services. These groups will then be able to express their views and negotiate their demands within state, municipal, and micro-regional development programme.They will become active partners in their own development process.

“The Project will support IFAD’s efforts to achieve the Millenium Development Goals of halving, by 2015, the number of people living in poverty and extreme poverty. By supporting economic development and better management of natural resources we can help the rural poor to generate more income and improve their livelihoods”, said Jean-Jacques Gariglio, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager to Venezuela.

With this loan, IFAD will have financed five projects in Venezuela for a total of US$67 million

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world's poorest people - 800 million women, children and men - live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.

There are 192 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.5 billion. IFAD has invested about US$2.8 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help more than 100 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested almost US$8.7 billion in 690 projects and programmes that have helped more than 250 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Governments and other financing sources in the recipient countries, including project beneficiaries, have contributed about US$8.4 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided about US$6.9 billion in cofinancing.