Investing in rural people in Azerbaijan

IFAD has enjoyed a long history of a strong and successful partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan in rural poverty reduction and overall agricultural development efforts, with focused interventions in remote and sometimes difficult to reach areas of the country where extreme pockets of poverty exist.

IFAD’s results-based country strategic opportunities programme (RB-COSOP 2014-2020) for Azerbaijan focuses on reducing poverty and improving living conditions for disadvantaged rural communities.

More specifically, IFAD projects assist poor rural people in accessing assets and services needed to manage natural resources sustainably, including improved irrigation and rangeland management; and improve farmers’ access to profitable value chains.

To date, IFAD has supported six projects in Azerbaijan. It has contributed US$77.6 million in financing to projects costing a total of US$232.3 million and directly benefiting 108,549 households. Good results have emerged from completed projects. For example, the Farm Privatization Project pioneered a land redistribution initiative that led to the revival of the rural sector and assisted Azerbaijan in its transformation into a market-based economy.