<<Print>>

A US$6 million loan to the Republic of Ghana from IFAD will allow rural poor people and smallholder farmers to achieve better livelihoods by increasing their access to sustainable financial services and technical support. The Rural and Agricultural Finance Programme is intended to support improved livelihoods for poor rural populations, with particular attention to small holder farmers, women and young people. The loan and agreement for the programme was signed today in Rome by Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture of the Republic of Ghana, and Kevin Cleaver, Assistant President, Programme Management Department of IFAD. Too often smallholder farmers are unable to capitalise on high food and agricultural prices because of lack of access to credit or financial services. The programme will strengthen institutional performance, outreach and client orientation in all segments of the rural financial system, with particular focus on agricultural finance. The programme will draw on current efforts to apply pro-poor methodologies and assist in providing technical support to agricultural value chains. With this project, IFAD has funded 15 projects in Ghana for a total investment of more than US$ 184 million. IFAD-funded projects in the country have supported cassava production to improve food security, rural enterprises� development and consolidation and expansion of the rural banking network.