Azerbaijan, Baku, June 29 / Trend I.Khalilova /
The Azerbaijani government has signed with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) a loan agreement worth $19.35 million to finance the Integrated Rural Development Project, IFAD reported.
The loan agreement for the Integrated Rural Development Project was signed in Rome on June 28 by Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Ismat Abasov and President of IFAD Kanayo F. Nwanze.
The project aims to support increased agricultural productivity, enhanced incomes and food security, to reach more than 50,000 households in the districts of Agdash, Yevlakh, Sheki and Oguz. The districts in the lowland areas in particular will benefit from improved irrigation water delivery.
IFAD's project will target the rural poor to improve their skills and use available natural resources more effectively to improve sustainable productivity and profitability for crop and livestock husbandry. In addition, IFAD aims to improve the incomes of women and men producers through better farm management and access to credit.
The total project cost is $ 103.8 million. The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which approved a loan of $ 66.4 million in 2010, also engaged in the project financing.
IDB loan consists of three parts, two of which on preferential terms: $14.89 million available for a period of 20 years with a grace period of five years at 2.65 percent annually, $2 million - for 25 years with a grace period of seven years with banking services (a fee has not been established yet), $49.51 million according to the Istisna method - for 15 years with a grace period of three years and a rate swap+1.2 percent.
With this new project, IFAD will have financed five programs and projects in Azerbaijan for a total investment of $87.0 million since 1997.
IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome - the United Nation's food and agricultural hub. It works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested about US $ 12.9 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty.