Rome, 1 February 2012 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a US$89.9 million loan to the Republic of India to improve agricultural livelihoods in the State of Uttarakhand.

Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs of the Republic of India, and Nigel Brett, IFAD Country Programme Manager for India, today signed the loan agreement in New Delhi for the Integrated Livelihoods Support Project.

Uttarakhand is a small hill state in the north-west part of the country and one of the poorest states in India.
Although many households have land, the land holdings are very small and the tiny terraced plots on steep hillsides make mechanization extremely difficult. This project is a direct response from the government of India to scale up successful rural development programmes in the state. 

The project will cover 143,000 households, including small rural producers, women, scheduled caste households and young people. At least 50 per cent of beneficiary groups will be female, and 20 per cent of the groups will focus on vulnerable households.

The main focus of the project will be to support and develop the food production system by improving technologies for traditional food crops and livestock. Farmers will be able to earn more by selling cash crops. Production of off-season vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes, peas will increase and better marketing arrangements will be put in place. The project will also introduce  new crops and products such as nuts, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants.

On the occasion of the loan agreement, Venu Rajamony, stated that his government is pleased with the partnership with IFAD. Rajmony recalled IFAD’s role as a committed development partner, with a clear focus on innovative solutions for the most pressing development challenges in some of the remote geographic areas in the country.

Since 1978, with this new programme, IFAD will have financed 24 programmes and projects in India for a total investment of about
$ 746 million.

Press release No.: IFAD/06/2012

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 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).