The Northern Horizons Project will invest US$21 million to combat rural poverty in the northern part of the country

Tela, 23 September 2011. The Honduran Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed a new project today for US$21 million to reduce rural poverty in the northern part of the country.

“The Northern Horizons Project is intended to boost competitiveness, income, and food security for small producers in 27 municipalities with high concentrations of rural poverty in the departments of Atlántida, Cortés, and Santa Bárbara,” said Enrique Murguia, coordinator of IFAD projects in Central America. “The project will benefit about 24,000 households, with 12,000 of them receiving technical assistance, venture capital and financial services.”

The project is also intended to upgrade rural roads, which will facilitate market access for small producers in the zone, while the financial services and an innovative relationship with the private sector will ensure the profitability of the project.

“With the new access to markets and financial assets, we project an increase of US$7 a day in the income of families in the intervention zone,” Murguia announced. “We also expect to provide training for about 1,000 young people to improve their chances of finding good jobs, and anticipate reducing the vulnerability of the communities to environmental degradation.”

The six-year project will be implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock. Approximately US$8.7 million from IFAD will be in the form of a highly concessional loan. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration will provide a further US$8 million in cofinancing and the balance will come from national and local contributions.

Since 1979, IFAD has been supporting Honduran government programmes to reduce rural poverty through 10 projects and approximately US$120 million in loans.

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Press release No.: IFAD/60/2011

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 about US$12.9 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 United Nations 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).