Investing in rural people in Sri Lanka

IFAD is one of Sri Lanka’s longest-standing development partners. Since its first investment in the country in 1978, IFAD has implemented 19 projects in Sri Lanka, benefiting 654,832 households at a total cost of US$654.57 million (with IFAD providing US$340.49 million in financing). These investments have supported government policies to achieve food security, ensure higher and sustainable incomes for farmers, improve production and productivity, and sustainably manage the environment.

IFAD’s country programme, articulated through the country strategy note (2023–2024), has the following objectives:

1. rural communities gain greater resilience to shocks and longer-term changes in the climate and economy as they recover from the current economic crisis; and
2. smallholder farmers benefit from sustainable productivity enhancement in more resilient livelihood systems that are effectively connected to markets.

IFAD’s investments are targeted towards rural people, who continue to be among those most likely to be left behind. Empowering poor rural women and men to effectively connect to markets by way of developing and supporting value chains is central to the country strategy.