UN RURAL DEVELOPMENT ARM SUPPLIES NEARLY $250 MILLION TO CURB POVERTY

UN RURAL DEVELOPMENT ARM SUPPLIES NEARLY $250 MILLION TO CURB POVERTY New York, Sep 15 2008 1:10PM The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced today that it has approved almost $250 million in loans and grants to support one dozen initiatives aimed at fighting poverty in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

In West and Central Africa, the agency will make nearly $30 million in loans and $9 million in grants available.

In Cameroon, smallholder farms without access to financial services will receive a boost, while in the Republic of Congo, <"http://www.ifad.org/">IFAD will support a project targeting 250 villages and 20,000 households to help planters there increase their harvests.

Some 200,000 farmers in northern Mozambique will benefit from a 7-year scheme seeking to increase the profitability of their crops through basic business training and direct counselling.

Meanwhile in Albania, the IFAD-backed "Mountain to Markets Programme" seeks to augment the incomes of those living in mountainous areas, the poorest in the European nation.

Rwanda, Senegal, Madagascar, Moldova, Sudan, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua will also receive grants or loans from the agency.

Since its creation three decades ago, IFAD has invested over $10 billion in low-interest loans and grants to help nearly half a billion poor rural people enhance their incomes.
2008-09-15 00:00:00.000

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