IFAD to invest US$13.3 million to integrate smallholder goat breeders into emerging value chains in Argentina
(PRWEB) April 21, 2017 -- The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Argentina signed a financial agreement today to transform the lives of 40,000 people who rely on goat breeding as their main source of livelihood.
During the next six years, the Goat Value Chain Development Programme (PRODECCA) will support smallholder goat breeders to increase their incomes through sustainable integration into emerging value chains, including meat, milk products and fibre, especially mohair and cashmere.
The total cost of the project is US$25.45 million of which IFAD is providing a $12.30 million loan and a $1.02 million grant. Other co-financiers are: the Government of Argentina ($7 million), the provincial governments ($2.97 million) and the beneficiaries themselves ($2.16 million).
The agreement was signed today on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Spring meetings in Washington, D.C., by Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD, and Luis Andrés Caputo, Minister for Finance of Argentina.
"Argentina has set an ambitious goal of reducing rural poverty through income generation based on sustainable agricultural production," said Claus Reiner, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Argentina. "IFAD aims to contribute to this effort by promoting the integration of poor family farmers into emerging and sustainable value chains, and we welcome the Government’s choice of targeting goat producers, who are generally poor," he added.
Argentina is one of the largest economies in Latin America and one of the world's major producers of agricultural commodities, mainly from large-scale farms. However, there are also some 251,000 family farms in the country, many of which are run by poor families. About 46,000 farms, mainly smallholder, are raising goats.
PRODECCA aims to develop markets for goat products and improve the functioning of value chains by supporting market analysis and promotion, improving exploration of new markets and providing technical assistance to processing companies. Beneficiary participation is central to the programme. Producers' organizations will participate in round-table discussions to prepare and monitor plans for the areas in which specific goat products are traded, and will develop, execute and monitor their own business plans.
Poverty in the country is especially severe in farming families and indigenous communities. The programme will benefit some 8,000 rural families, including 5,600 smallholder and 2,400 indigenous families. It will be implemented in the provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Neuquén, Mendoza and Santiago del Estero, which are home to some 60 per cent of all goats in the country.
Since 1988, IFAD has contributed $128.4 million of the total $372.3 million investment for eight rural development programmes and projects in Argentina.
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Contact:
Ana Martínez
Communications Division
Tel: +39 06 5459 2383
Email: a.martinez(at)ifad(dot)org
IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided US$18.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached about 464 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub.
Jessica Thomas, IFAD, http://www.ifad.org, +39 3921605992, [email protected]
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