Smallholders in Maputo and Limpopo Corridors to benefit from value chain development project

Rome, 3 October 2012 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will extend a loan of US$16.30 million to the Republic of Mozambique to finance the Pro-poor Value Chain Development Project in the Maputo and Limpopo Corridors (PROSUL). Two separate grants, including one worth $4.91 million from the new Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) Trust Fund will be provided for the same project. The other grant is worth $1.52 million. An additional amount of $16.30 million from the Spanish Food Security Co-financing Facility Trust Fund will be given as a loan to advance the project.

Aiuba Cuereneia, Minister of Planning and Development of the Republic of Mozambique, and Carlos Seré, Chief Development Strategist of IFAD, signed the financing agreement today.

The new project will support pro-poor and climate resilient improvements in three value chains: irrigated horticulture, cassava and red meat. It will increase the income of smallholder farmers through sustainable intensification and diversification of agricultural production, improving links with markets, strengthening the skills base of local farmer organisations and increasing farmers’ net benefits from agricultural value chains.

Implemented in the arid and semi-arid areas of Southern Mozambique, the project is highly exposed and sensitive to scarce and irregular rainfall.  The ASAP grant will finance project activities aiming at higher climate resilience such as the installation of robust and efficient water management infrastructure, and improvement of the weather stations network to enable better analysis and forecasting of weather events. Sustainable agriculture techniques that are more resilient to climate shocks will be introduced to farmers groups, along with intensified cassava production systems that integrate mixed cropping. Community based natural resource management plans will help farmers improve household food security.

More than 20,000 rural vulnerable households will benefit directly from the project, including 18,400 farming households. In partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund and the Government of Mozambique, the project will be implemented in three provinces of Gaza, Inhambane and Maputo, where rural poverty is particularly high.

With this new project, IFAD will have financed 12 programmes and projects in Mozambique since 1983 for a total investment of $218.9 million benefiting 2,193,500 households.

Press release No.: IFAD/55/2012

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 almost US$14 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 Nations’ food and agriculture hub. It is a unique partnership of 168 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organization for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD)