Rome, 14 September 2010 – A US$14 million loan from the The International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) will help improve the livelihoods of smallholder cocoa and coffee producers in Papua New Guinea.  

The loan agreement was signed today in Port Moresby by Hon. Minister Peter O'Neill Minister for Treasury of Papua New Guinea and Ron Hartman, IFAD country programme manager.

The majority of the population in Papua New Guinea live in rural areas and are dependent on semi-subsistence agriculture. Coffee and cocoa are the main cash crops. The country is currently facing an overall deterioration in coffee quality and yields. In addition an invasive pest – the cocoa pod borer - is threatening to devastate rural economies languishing cocoa smallholders much poorer and more vulnerable.

The IFAD supported Productive Partnerships in Agriculture project will implement some of the necessary structural changes needed to improve the performance and sustainability of the coffee and cocoa value chains. The project will help smallholder farmers, producers, women and youth to be trained for more efficient, market responsive and sustainable production practices. The project will cover two distinct areas, for cocoa, the coastal areas of East New Britain and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and for coffee, the provinces of the Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka and Simbu.

With this new programme, IFAD will have financed 4 projects in Papua New Guinea with investments totalling US$39.68 million.

Press release No.: IFAD/55/2010

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$12 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 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).