International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Enabling the Rural Poor to Overcome Poverty
The international Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is mandated to combat hunger and rural poverty in developing countries, by providing direct funding and mobilizing additional resources for programmes designed specifically to promote the economic advancement of the rural poor, mainly by improving the productivity of on- and off-farm activities.
IFAD's role in MDGs
IFAD's work in the eradication of rural poverty in Nigeria fits in with MDG 1. In this regard, IFAD's programmes in Nigeria which improve the incomes and living conditions of the rural poor are the : i) Roots and Tubers Expansion Programme -RTEP, ii) Community-Based Agricultural and Rural Development Programme -CBARDP, iii) Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme -CBNRMP, iv) Rural Finance Institutions Building Programme -RUFIN and v) Rural Micro Enterprise Development Programme -RUMEDP). One major component of the programme is the empowering of poor rural communities to have the capacity to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate their development activities as well as make service providers more responsive to their demand. The programmes also support vulnerable groups such as women, youth and the landless and made available a community development fund to support community initiatives in sustainable livelihood improvement (e.g. sustainable agriculture, rural enterprise, natural resource management and the provision of small-scale community infrastructure).
In addition to Goal 1 (Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger), IFAD also contributes to Goal 3 (Promote gender equality and empower women) by supporting projects that increase women's assets (ex. land, credit, etc), access to quality of life, improving technologies, leadership and literacy skills, participation in project decision making. IFAD's work also contributes to goal 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases in the field) and goal 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability). IFAD supports interventions that promote access to natural and productive resources; land reform and secure tenure; productivity increasing farm technologies; wide participation in sustainable natural resource management; rural finance schemes; access to sustainable use of water for irrigation.
IFAD in Nigeria
IFAD has financed eight programmes and projects in Nigeria since 1985. The total loan commitment of on-going and proposed IFAD's programmes in Nigeria at the moment is estimated at US$171,500 million. All programmes and projects have addressed the livelihood needs of rural poor people, including smallholders, rural small businesses, and poor fishing communities, young people, landless people and women. IFAD's support to the Nigerian government's poverty reduction programme focuses on facilitating economic and social development in rural areas. IFAD directs assistance towards the following areas:
ü empowering small-scale farmers, landless people and rural women to generate sustainable incomes from farm and other activities
ü supporting pro-poor reforms and local governance to expand access to information, effective transport systems, village infrastructures and technologies
ü improving access of poor rural communities to financial services and social services
The most recent programme under appraisal is the Rural Micro Enterprise Development Programme (RUMEDP), which will provide opportunities for the rural poor to engage in off-farm micro enterprise development activities, accessing credit as a result of the programmes' financial linkage to microfinance institutions. The total beneficiaries are estimated at 123,360 or 740,160 people. The direct beneficiaries will be 6720 households or 403,000 people and among them women, youth and the physically-challenged.
