Rome, 9 May 2011 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced that a US$47.3 million loan will be provided to Bangladesh to reduce poverty and hunger for poor people living on chars (newly accreted coastal lands).

The loan agreement for the Char Development and Settlement Project IV was signed today in Rome by Masud Bin Momen, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to Italy and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.

The coastal zone of Bangladesh is expanding southwards as river water deposits sediment and creates new land. The process of erosion and accretion in the world’s largest river delta is the major driver of poverty in these chars.

The project to be cofinanced by the Netherlands and the Government of Bangladesh seeks to target the rural population living on chars, considered to be one of the most vulnerable groups in Bangladesh. The communities will all benefit from the development of water management, agricultural technology support, infrastructure, water supply and cyclone protection. The project will provide improved and more secure sustenance for 28,000 households in coastal chars. This will be achieved through the provision of support for rural livelihoods, legal title to land and climate-resilient infrastructure.

The project has several innovative features. Unlike earlier char development projects, over half the area to be covered will not be protected by embankment. Other innovations include salt-adapted agricultural technologies, house plinth raising and house strengthening, livestock refuges, testing new ways to surface village roads and building rural markets.

With this new project, IFAD will have financed 27 programmes and projects in Bangladesh for a total investment of US$ 522 million benefiting some 8.6 million households.

Press release No.: IFAD/32/2011
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$12.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the United Nation’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 166 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)