Release number IFAD/03/07

Rome, 29 January 2006 – Approximately 140,000 rural households in Mozambique will participate in a new country-wide development programme to improve the efficiency of agricultural production. Over the next eight years, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will work with the country’s public and private sector, including non-governmental organizations and farmers’ groups, to increase rural incomes and to help make poor families in Mozambique more food secure.

The US$50.82 million Agricultural Support Programme (ASP) will be partly financed by a US$20 million loan from IFAD. The agreement for the loan was signed via correspondence last month by Mozambique’s Vice Minister of Finançe, Pedro Conceição Couto, and IFAD President, Lennart Båge.

The Government of the Republic of Mozambique will contribute US$30.07 million to finance the programme. The rest of the funding will be made available by programme participants.

“Despite Mozambique’s impressive economic growth rates in recent years, poverty continues to be severe and widespread,” said IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Mozambique, Alessandro Marini. “It is particularly striking in rural areas. This loan will contribute to the government’s efforts to modernize the structure of the agricultural sector. It will help this country of massive potential to consolidate its economy and succeed in its fight against poverty.”

ASP will constitute a core part of the second phase of the Government of Mozambique’s own National Programme for Agricultural Development (ProAgri) – one of the first programmes in Eastern and Southern Africa to take a sector-wide approach in agriculture. ASP will be implemented mostly at the district level and encourage the direct involvement of poor rural households.

ASP will support the development of extension services to farmers, including technical and agri-business training. The programme will particularly target poor rural families that are headed by women or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The number of Mozambicans living in poverty has dropped to 54 per cent from 70 per cent in 1999. Still, the vast majority of the country’s rural population continues to live on less than US$1 a day and lack access to basic sanitation, health services and schools.

Other IFAD-supported programmes currently operational in Mozambique include interventions to improve crop production, fisheries and livestock development, as well as market linkages and rural financial services.

With this loan, IFAD will have provided funds for nine programmes in Mozambique since 1983, totalling US$143.93 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 196 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.6 billion. IFAD has invested more than US$3.1 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 89 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.5 billion in 732 programmes and projects that have helped approximately 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$9.0 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.1  billion in cofinancing.