Press release number: IFAD 05/06

Rome, 14 February 2006 -More than 75,000 people living in remote mountain villages will benefit from a new US$34.4 million development project to improve agricultural production, strengthen basic rural infrastructures, and diversify income sources. Communities will be at the heart of the project, which will help them prepare local development plans that address their priorities for investment. The project area is Boulmane Province, one of the country's poorest regions.

The Rural Development Project in the Eastern Middle Atlas Mountains will be financed by a US$16.2 million loan from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and cofinanced by the OPEC Fund and the Government of Morocco. The loan agreement was signed today at IFAD headquarters in Rome by the President of IFAD Lennart Båge and Tajeddine Baddou, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Project participants will be involved in formulating development plans at the village level. Training will help strengthen their ability to plan and participate in the implementation and maintenance of investment activities, access rural financial services and create micro-enterprises.

''At the moment, as in much of rural Morocco, these farmers are not equipped to face the challenges of an economy that is opening up to free market competition. Through better management of water, land and animal resources, and improved access to technical, financial and other support services, farmers will be able to increase and diversify their incomes in a sustainable manner'', says Mounif Nourallah, IFAD's country programme manager for Morocco.

Small farmers, who represent 85 per cent of the area's population, generally grow cereals on very small plots, where productivity is low because of severe climatic fluctuations. Their farmland is also very fragile. Erosion increases the risk of destructive flooding and landslides in an area already remote and largely inaccessible. 

The eight-year project will help farmers to better manage their natural resources. They will learn techniques for terracing and stabilizing river banks, which are crucial for conserving soil and water. Irrigation infrastructures, such as gates, canals and underground systems, will be built or rehabilitated. They will help boost production of specific cash crops and fruits adapted to this region. The programme will also build or rehabilitate access tracks, enabling isolated communities to more easily reach markets and social services.

Women and young people will be a special focus of the programme, in particular the unemployed and landless namely in the areas of functional literacy, income generating activities and microenterprises.

With this loan, IFAD will have financed 10 programmes and projects in Morocco for a total loan portfolio of US$146.3 million.

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 185 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.1 billion. IFAD has invested nearly US$2.9 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 nearly 80 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$9.0 billion in 707 programmes and projects that have helped nearly 300 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 participants, have contributed almost US$8.8 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.0 billion in cofinancing.