IFAD

(International Fund for Agricultural Development)

Benefits specific to India:

Home to over 1 billion people, India receives more funding from IFAD than any other country in the world. Since 1979, IFAD has committed US$468 million in a total of 18 loans to the Government of India. IFAD loans and grants support agricultural development and help reduce poverty among India s 193 million rural poor people. Working in partnership with the Government and other donors, IFAD funds projects that focus on rural development, tribal development, women s empowerment, natural resource management and rural finance.

The first five IFAD projects in India supported large-scale irrigation development. Large numbers of India s poorest people about 50 per cent of scheduled tribes and 40 per cent of scheduled castes live in the semi-arid tropical region. The transformation of agriculture in the wake of the country s Green Revolution has not reached them, and the forest resources have been degraded. Their incomes are vulnerable due to frequent droughts and scarce rainfall. IFAD-funded development projects in the region show that diversifying sources of income, investing in small-scale irrigation and improving water management and conservation can help reduce poverty.

The goals to be achieved:

• Reduce rural poverty through innovative pilot initiatives
• Improve food security
• Increase household incomes
• Make agricultural systems more productive and more sustainable