Rural Enterprises Programme for women and youth to build on earlier successes

Accra, 27 September 2011 – A loan of US$31.5 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to the government of Ghana will enhance the capacity of rural people to build competitive small businesses across the country, the UN rural poverty agency announced.

The loan will extend the results of the first two successful phases of the Rural Enterprises Project, which for the past 16 years has provided rural people with good-quality, easily accessible services such as affordable credit and cost-effective technology to improve productivity. In addition, rural people have been provided training in business development, project management, partnership building and policy dialogue.

IFAD emphasizes that agriculture is a business, no matter the scale or size. By turning the world’s 500 million small farms into 500 million small businesses, sustainable agricultural development becomes a reality. It can guarantee long-term food security for all and it can stimulate much-needed economic growth.

The first phase of the project was implemented in 13 districts in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions while the second phase covered 66 districts nationwide. This new loan for a third phase, known as the Rural Enterprises Programme, will focus on rural women and youth in all rural areas of Ghana and actively involve local business associations and their umbrella organizations in the planning and implementation of activities.

In 2006, Ghana was the first African country to have almost halved the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. But despite the overall decline in the incidence of poverty in Ghana, poverty still has a firm grip on rural areas, especially in the north.

Since 1980, IFAD has financed 16 programmes and projects in Ghana for a cumulated investment of US$224.9 million, leveraging counterpart resources and co-financing of $452.4 million for a total investment portfolio of $677.3 million to reduce rural poverty benefiting 1,785,000 households.

---

Press release No.: IFAD/62/2011

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$13.2 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries through projects empowering about 400 million people to break out of poverty, thereby helping to create vibrant rural communities. 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)