Release number IFAD/27/07

Rome, 15 May 2007 – A new US$27 million development project in Haiti will rehabilitate collective irrigation systems used by thousands of poor small farmers in the North-East and North-West provinces, two of the country’s poorest areas. 

IFAD will provide a loan of US$13 million for the Small-Scale Irrigation Development Project. The loan agreement was signed today by the Ambassador of Haiti to Italy, Yvon Siméon, and IFAD President, Lennart Båge.

The Government of Haiti will contribute US$3.5 million to the project. The OPEC Fund for International Development will provide US$8 million and project participants will contribute US$2.5 million.

The project will help about 18,000 families in remote rural areas improve their living conditions and food security. Small farmers will be able to grow an bigger range of irrigated crops and increase their agricultural production through more efficient water management.

 “Periods of economic decline and political and social turmoil during the past 20 years have made Haiti the poorest country in Latin American and the Caribbean,” said IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Haiti, Jean-Jacques Gariglio. “Up to 80 per cent of the people in the project area live in extreme poverty and the primary goal is to reduce this significantly.”

The project will build on the success of an earlier IFAD-supported project in Haiti, the Rehabilitation of Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes Project, which also focused on the development of irrigation systems and shaped the country’s policy on water management. Through this new project, IFAD will continue to work with water user’s associations to take on the management responsibilities of the irrigation schemes. The project will also help to establish a national water management programme for agriculture, and will continue to support private service providers.

In addition to improving traditional crop production and introducing new crops, the project will develop income-generating activities that are not farm related for people who have little or no access to land or irrigation. Women and young people in particular will get access to training in literacy and nutrition and assistance with small business development.

With this project, IFAD has financed seven projects in Haiti with approved loans totalling US$84.3 million.

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IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD develops and finances programmes and projects that enable poor rural people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 195 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, worth a total of US$6.7 billion. IFAD has invested US$3.1 billion, with cofinancing provided by partners including governments, project participants, multilateral and bilateral donors. These initiatives will help about 86 million poor rural women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.6 billion in 738 programmes and projects that have reached more than 307 million poor rural women and men. Governments and other financing sources in recipient countries, including project participants, contributed US$9.1 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors provided another US$7.1 billion in cofinancing.