International Fund for Agricultural Development

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ince 1985, IFAD has financed nine programmes and projects in Nigeria, with a total loan commitment of over US$232.2 million. The country currently attracts over 40 per cent of the financial resources that IFAD allocates to Western and Central Africa. All programmes and projects have addressed the liread morevelihood needs of poor rural people, including smallholders, women, small business owners, poor fishing communities, young people and landless people.
These operations have contributed to:
Generating and disseminating technology to increase incomes and family food security, while also introducing approaches for effective soil and water conservation and environmental management
Fostering demand-driven and participatory approaches to agricultural and rural support services
Strengthening institutional capacities to ensure the sustainability of successful development initiatives.
IFAD’s support to the Nigerian Government’s poverty reduction programme in rural areas targets large numbers of smallholder farmers and is essentially people-centred. IFAD supports programmes and projects that work with communities, with smallholder farmers as the key players. The organization also promotes commodity-based interventions that provide technical and financial support along several value chains – such as livestock products, rice and other cereals, roots and tubers, vegetables and agroforestry products.
The objectives are to empower poor rural people, especially women, by increasing their access to resources, infrastructure and services; and to promote the management of land, water and common property by local communities, helping to overcome environmental degradation. IFAD-supported programmes and projects address issues such as erosion and the loss of soil fertility, as well as coastal zone natural resource management.
IFAD directs assistance towards:
Empowering small-scale farmers, landless people and rural women to generate sustainable incomes from farming and other activities
Supporting pro-poor reforms and local governance to expand access to information, effective transport systems, village infrastructure and technology
Improving access by poor rural communities to financial and social services.
At the government level, IFAD helps build capacity and strengthen institutions that provide services to poor rural people. It assists with necessary policy changes, developing local organizations to enhance their effective participation, and it promotes initiatives to foster rapid poverty reduction and economic growth led by the private sector.