Needy Farmers in Madagascar Earn Boost From UN Rural Development Agency

Poor rural families across southern and central Madagascar will be able to increase their incomes after the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced a $19 million scheme to improve farming production.

IFAD will provide a loan of $18.7 million and a grant of $515,000 to support local farmers' organizations, according to a news <"http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2008/47.htm">release issued by the agency on Wednesday after an agreement was signed in Rome by IFAD and the Government of Madagascar.

Under the project, some 75,000 families stand to benefit from the new financing, which will be directed in part at improving agribusiness centres so they can better help farmers and at increasing regional agricultural funds from which farmers' groups can draw.

IFAD said the project will target particularly needy groups of the rural community, including small-scale farmers with little land, households whose members have nutritional problems, women and young people.

So far the UN agency has funded 13 projects across Madagascar, which has an overwhelmingly rural population, at a total cost of $159 million. The current project is being funded by the European Union, the African Development Bank and the World Bank.

Source: United Nations

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