IFAD, Sudan invest $47.5m to help farmers

Rome, Feb 16 (IANS/AKI) The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development and Sudan signed a $47.5 million dollar accord aimed at boosting farmers' incomes and resilience to climate change in four of the African country's states, IFAD said on Friday.

"IFAD's approach will be to enhance food security and reduce poverty in poor rural households through investment in crop production, marketing, access to credit and capacity building of public and private service providers," said Tarek Ahmed, IFAD's country programme manager for Sudan.

The IFAD-supported project will support rural households in states of Sinnar, North Kordofan, South Dordofan and West Kordofan over a period of six years, according to IFAD.

The project will help farmers in rain-fed areas who engage in traditional agriculture (crop production and animal husbandry) and forest-based activities (mainly gum Arabic). It covers 129 villages and 27,000 smallholder households, targeting small producers, rural women and youth with farm sizes of less than 6.3 hectares.

The agreement was signed by Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD, and Abdelatif Ijaimi, Sudan's Agriculture and Forestry Minister.

The total cost of the project is S$47.5 mn including a $26.01 mn grant from IFAD. The project will be co-financed by the government of Sudan, the private sector and the beneficiaries themselves, IFAD stated.

Two thirds of Sudan's population (36.2 million people) live in rural areas and nearly half rely on agriculture and agro-processing industries for their livelihoods, making agriculture vital to Sudan's economy.

In recent years, climate change has had a major impact on Sudan's fragile environment, particularly in rain-fed areas, affecting the livelihoods of many who live there, IFAD said.

Since 1978 IFAD has financed 21 rural development projects in Sudan, investing $203,737,528, directly benefitting 593,000 rural households.

--IANS/AKI

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