Rome, 9 December 2011 –The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a US$24.8 million loan to the Republic of Zambia to accelerate growth in smallholder agriculture and reduce rural poverty in the country.  

The financing agreement for the Smallholder Productivity Promotion Programme was signed today by Samuel Mapala, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Zambia to United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.

Agriculture is an important sector for Zambian economic development, contributing nearly 22 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. About 60 per cent of the population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods. Promoting businesses in the agricultural sector and raising productivity are high priorities for the government.
The new programme will focus on increasing the production of cassava, mixed beans, groundnuts and rice. It will complement the on-going IFAD-financed Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme by enhancing the on-farm productivity of smallholder farmers; enabling them to respond to emerging market opportunities.  In addition, the programme will sustainably improve income levels, food and nutrition security for poor agricultural households in the areas covered by the programme.

Cofinanced by the government of Finland through a US$7 million grant, the programme will be implemented in northern Zambia. It will start in eight districts of two provinces, Luapula and Northern, gradually expanding to cover up to 24 districts. More than 60,000 smallholder farming households, of which half are women farmers, will benefit directly from the programme.

With this new project, IFAD will have financed 12 programmes and projects in Zambia for a total investment of $180.1 million benefitting 601,280 households.

Press release No.: IFAD/88/2011
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 167 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).