Eritrea: IFAD-financed program to support post-war recovery
18 December 2006
Over 200,000 families affected by recent border wars and long periods of drought in Eritrea will participate in a new IFAD-financed agricultural and livestock development programme designed to raise productivity and boost rural incomes.
The US$23.12 million Post-crisis Rural Recovery and Development Programme will be partly financed by a US$12.24 million loan and a US$343,000 grant from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). The financing agreement for the loan and grant was signed today by Zemede Tekle Woldetatios, Ambassador of Eritrea to Italy, and IFAD President Lennart Båge at IFAD’s headquarters.
The Government in Eritrea will contribute US$1.04 million to finance the programme. The Global Environment Facility will provide US$7.28 million to finance the natural resource management component of the programme while the rest of the funding will be made available by programme participants.
"The programme will work closely with farmers’ groups to promote the development of conservation-based agriculture," said IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Eritrea, Abla Benhammouche. “The goal is to increase productivity and reconstruct rural livelihoods while safeguarding the environment.”
A significant portion of the programme’s resources will be dedicated to improving the capacity of local communities to plan and implement development activities themselves – in other words, to take charge of their own development. Technical support will be given to farmers working over 200,000 hectares of dry land, while tens of thousands of hectares of rangeland and degraded watersheds will be improved or rehabilitated. The programme will also work to enhance local breeding of livestock, such as cows, goats and sheep, and distribute beekeeping equipment to farmers. Read full article
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