Abuja-The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is to invest 83 million dollars in Nigeria over the next three years, the President, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, announced in Abuja.
The information is contained in the keynote speech Nwanze delivered at the High Level Conference on Agribusiness and Agro-industries Development in Africa (HLCD-3A).
The three-day conference, which ended on Wednesday, was jointly organised by UNIDO, FAO and IFAD, in collaboration with UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the AU Commission, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Nigeria as host.Nwanze said that IFAD had so far supported nine programmes and projects in the country with a total value of 640 million dollars, including co-financing from its partners.
He said that Nigeria, as a major partner of IFAD in Western and Central Africa, had so far received direct IFAD funding totalling 188 million dollars from 1985 to date.At the regional level, he said that Africa, as a key focus of IFADís work, received 44 per cent of the agencyís total financing.
“Of this, 40 per cent goes to Western and Central Africa, where we have supported 183 programmes and projects in 24 countries since 1978, amounting to 4.8 billion dollars of IFAD investment and co-financing, thereby impacting on more than 60 million people, the president said.
According to him, IFAD has invested 272 million dollars in the development of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (or MSMEs) since the mid-1980s across all regions.
He said that the agency had also funded investment in local infrastructure to provide small-scale irrigation and water control schemes, as well as communications and rural roads.
“ We invest in agro-processing to ensure reduced post-harvest losses and improved quality; and in market linkages as well as better access to market information, including on prices.
“The aim is to strengthen each link in the value chain, from the smallholder, through the local trade agents, through agro-processing, to regional and national markets.
“In value terms, the total approval of IFAD projects in which value chains were either components or the primary instruments for poverty alleviation increased from 1.8 per cent in 2005 to 50 per cent last year, he said.
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