UN agency provides $13 million loan to boost rural development in Moldova

The specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries, has given the Republic of Moldova a loan for $13 million to help fund a 5-year economic development plan.

The loan agreement was signed at the Rome headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) by its President, Lennart Båge, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to IFAD, Nicolae Dudau.

IFAD said that the programme would help create new markets and jobs in the country’s rural areas, and enable poor farmers to move into more productive farm and non-farm activities.

The agricultural sector, including production and food processing, employs about 40 per cent of the country’s labour force. But production levels are currently less than half of what they were before the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, IFAD said.

With this loan, the Agency said it would have financed three investment programmes in the Republic of Moldova for a total loan portfolio of $35.5 million.

Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested almost $9.0 billion in 707 programmes and projects that have helped nearly 300 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families.