Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development Project

Through READ, poor rural households in six Guyanese regions are benefiting from better access to financial services and training in marketing and enterprise development – all designed to enable them to overcome poverty.

The overall goal of the project is to improve the social and economic conditions of these households, particularly for small-scale producers and vulnerable groups such as women and indigenous peoples. Implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, the project is supported by both loan and grant financing from IFAD. An estimated 20,800 people, almost half of them women, will benefit directly from project activities.

READ targets farmers who grow non-traditional crops and have up to five acres under cultivation, and operators of microenterprises and small-scale businesses employing up to five permanent workers. It also focuses on rural households that are headed by women, households that include unemployed or underemployed young people, and Amerindian communities.

Source: IFAD