Press release number: IFAD 22/06

Rome, 8 May 2006 - Tanzanians who are very poor and depend heavily on farming animals for their livelihoods will be supported to increase their incomes through improved production and better access to markets and livestock services when a new US$39 million development programme gets underway.

The Agriculture Sector Development Programme - Livestock: Support for Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Development will be partly funded by a US$20.0 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and cofinanced by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Belgian Survival Fund. The loan agreement was signed today at IFAD's headquarters in Rome by the Vice-President of IFAD, Cyril Enweze, and Tanzania's Ambassador to Belgium, Simon U.R. Mlay.

Implemented under the Agricultural Sector Development Programme, it will target the poorest pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in 11 regions and will launch a wide range of initiatives that will boost animal production and broaden opportunities for people to improve their livelihoods, especially women, young people and marginalized groups.

About 213,000 people will benefit directly from investments in community infrastructure, improved veterinary services and an empowerment process that will build their capacity to take decisions that affect their lives. There will be a focus on agro-pastoralists and very poor farmers, who generally do not own cattle and who, in cases of extreme poverty, do not own even chickens. The core of this small-stock development initiative will be pilot livestock farmer field schools, initially for poultry and later for goats, sheep, rabbits and pigs.

Given the Tanzanian Government's commitment to a demand-driven and decentralized approach to agricultural development, the new programme will give priority to empowerment of farmers and livestock keepers, especially by supporting the formation and strengthening of their representative groups, and networks of these groups and associations. It will also help farmers and livestock keepers build their knowledge and their capacity to make decisions.

Pastoralists will be supported by the development of an adaptive strategy to maintain sufficient mobility and to involve them in participatory, equitable land-use planning and range management, driven by local needs.

The Belgian Survival Fund will provide Euro 3.97 million to support development of community-based health services and better approaches to water management and use, in a limited number of districts.

With this programme, IFAD will have invested a total of US$172.9 million in 12 programmes and projects in Tanzania.

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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 187 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.2 billion. IFAD has invested more than 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 US$9.0 billion in 705 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.