Rome, 11 November 2009 – A US$18.33 million loan from IFAD to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will fund an innovative project to help smallholder farmers maximise yields by addressing a lack of financial resources and inputs and by supporting gender and poverty mainstreaming in Pakistan’s national crop productivity project.

The Crop Maximization Support Project aims to increase crop production in 10 districts in the provinces of Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh and in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The loan agreement for the project was signed today in Rome by Tasnim Aslam, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.

Nearly two thirds of the population, and 80 per cent of Pakistan’s poor people, live in rural areas and agriculture is a mainstay of the economy. Yet the sector faces stagnating yields as there are wide gaps in yield between progressive farmers and average farmers.

The new project was initiated as a response to last year’s volatile food price situation. It is a direct support to the government’s nationwide Crop Maximization Project II (CMP-II).

A key innovative feature of the project is the introduction of gender mainstreaming and poverty targeting into the CMP-II project. The IFAD project will support the formation of special interest groups of women and the landless, promote their involvement in community development, and enhance their access to financial resources.   

At least 25,000 poor rural households are expected to benefit, particularly resource-poor rural inhabitants such as small landowners, tenant farmers, the landless and women.  

To date, IFAD has funded 23 projects and programmes in Pakistan for a total investment of about US$ 460 million.

Press release No.: IFAD/53/09

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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$11 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 350 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).