Press release number: IFAD 08/05

Rome, 14 February 2005 - A new US$49 million programme will benefit an estimated 200,000 households in Kordofan, one of the poorest regions of the Sudan.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide more than half of the financing for the Western Sudan Resources Management Programme, with a loan of about US$25.5 million.

The loan agreement was signed today by Lennart Båge, President of IFAD, and Mr Magzoub El Khalifa, Federal Minister of Agriculture, at IFAD headquarters in Rome.

Management of natural resources is the central element of the eight year programme – an issue that has been a source of conflict in the past. The programme includes a number of measures to improve economic development in the region.

The programme will assist pastoralist and farming communities by creating a fair and efficient system of regulating the use of land and water, helping to reinforce stability in the region. It will include a land-use plan, drawn up in consultation with local communities and regional authorities, to be incorporated in forthcoming land-tenure legislation. The new laws will recognise customary farming and grazing rights, and delineate stock routes along which livestock are moved.

The programme will also improve beneficiaries’ access to water for domestic and livestock use. And they will be helped with practical support to improve the market value of their crops and livestock.

Focussed on 17 stock routes and six markets in the area, the programme will directly benefit some 44,000 settled, and 7,000 pastoralist households. When indirect beneficiaries are taken into account as well, it is estimated that in all some 200,000 households will benefit.

With a poverty rate of 50-75 per cent, Kordofan, which borders Darfur along its western flank, is one of the poorest parts of one of the world’s poorest countries. Until five years ago, its southern area was a conflict zone. The programme was designed to support the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on 9 January 2005, in particular the provisions for wealth and power sharing with regard to land tenure reform and decentralization. The new programme will build on the progress made by projects already under way, both of them partly financed by IFAD, in north and south Kordofan. These have greatly increased the self-reliance of local communities.

Poverty in the Sudan is concentrated in rural areas, and is closely linked to levels of agricultural productivity. Investment in this sector is crucial to the country’s future prosperity.

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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 - 900 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 close to 200 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totaling US$ 6.5 billion. IFAD has invested about US$ 3 billion in these initiatives. Co-financing 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 US$ 8.5 billion in 676 projects and programmes that have helped more than 250 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families.