The Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has given Togo a loan of US$39.6 million for a project to promote rural entrepreneurship, according to an IFAD statement received in Lomé on Friday.
The agreement was signed on Friday in the Italian capital, Rome, by Adji Otèth Ayassor, Togolese minister of Finance and Economy and Kanayo F. Nwanze, IFAD president.
It aims at promoting the development of rural entrepreneurship, creation of sustained jobs and generating revenues for youths from rural communities in the West African country, the statement said.
The project, which is co-financed by IFAD and the Togolese government, will be implemented by the Togolese ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Farming and Fishing.
It also aims at contributing to the progressive and sustainable transformation of the Togolese rural economy through support for the promotion of rural micro and small size firms along the agricultural sector by facilitating their durable relations with the firms.
It will assist 1,800 rural professional small and micro-firms through better access to financial services and markets and will profit 280,000 rural populations from five regions of the country – Maritime, Plateaux, Centrale, Kara et Savanes.
Set up in 1983, IFAD has financed seven projects and programmes in Togo totalling US$219.7 million, including 76.1 million of its own resources, which directly benefit 183,150 Togolese families.
