Press release No.: IFAD/49/08

Rome, 8 October 2008 - A US$14.89 million loan and a US$0.27 million grant from IFAD to the Republic of Senegal for the Agricultural Value Chains support project will help tackle rising rural poverty in the country’s “groundnut basin”. This has long been the country’s most vibrant agricultural region, however, an extended slump in world groundnut markets, continued land degradation and climate change have contributed to a steady economic decline in the area.

The loan agreement was signed today in Rome by Papa Cheikh Saadibou Fall, Ambassador of the Republic of Senegal to Italy, and IFAD by the IFAD President, Lennart Båge.

Although new markets are opening up, most smallholders are unable to access them. The project will assist them through the promotion of production/purchase contracting arrangements between their organizations and market operators. Farmers’ organizations will be strengthened to give members a greater say in decision making at regional and national levels. This will increase market access and a more equitable distribution of profits along a given value chain. The project will improve marketing conditions for higher surpluses and terms of trade for small producers as well as a more sustainable use of natural resources.

The IFAD project will target about 36,000 family-run farms and focus on: vulnerable smallholders with limited family labour; women and girls and their organizations; and underemployed young people aged 18 to 30.

To date IFAD has funded 14 rural development projects in Senegal for a total of about US$ 150 million.

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IFAD was created 30 years ago to tackle rural poverty, a key consequence of the droughts and famines of the early 1970s. Since 1978, IFAD has invested more than US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have helped over 400 million very poor rural women and men increase their incomes and provide for their families. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency. It is a global partnership of OECD, OPEC and other developing countries. Today, IFAD supports more than 200 programmes and projects in 85 developing countries and one territory.