Release number IFAD/18/07

Rome, 5 March 2007 – A new US$37.4 million development project in Turkey will boost employment and foster new and existing businesses in mountain and forest villages.

The Diyarbakir, Batman and Siirt Development Project will be financed partly by a loan of US$24.1 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The loan agreement was signed today by the Republic of Turkey’s Director General of Foreign Economic Relations, the Undersecretariat of Treasury, Memduh Aslan Akcay, and Lennart Båge, President of IFAD.

The Government of Turkey will contribute US$4.8 million to finance the project. Project participants will contribute US$7.8 million and the United Nations Development Programme will contribute a grant of US$750,000.

The project will work with poor farm households with at least two people of active working age, rural poor women, seasonal workers and unemployed young people over the age of 16. Institutions in villages and strengthened community associations will play a crucial role in setting the development priorities of the project.

Diyarbakir, Batman and Siirt are provinces in the south-east of Turkey. Lack of physical and social infrastructure compounds the poverty of the people living in these remote mountainous regions. And there are few employment opportunities.

One of the project’s main aims is to create non-agricultural sources of income and employment. It will support new non-farming opportunities and expand existing profitable businesses by improving their access to markets.

At the same time the project will prioritize education and training for farmers, support farming-related activities and work with local women and men to identify village development needs.

The project will focus on young people in particular, enabling them to find employment outside their villages.

With this project IFAD has financed seven initiatives in Turkey with a total investment of US$123.5 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 poor rural 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 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 77 million poor rural women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.5 billion in 732 programmes and projects that have helped more than 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 US$9.1 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.1 billion in cofinancing.