The FBiH President Marinko Čavara and Khalida Bouzar, director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Department for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, today signed an agreement for project of development of rural business, valued at 30.22 million USD.
Čavara said he was pleased with the signing of the agreement and that he expects continued cooperation with IFAD in future projects.
Bouzar pointed out that out of 30.22 million USD, about 13.7 million are loan funds, and 780,000 USD is a grant, while some five million USD will be provided by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).
She explained that the main objective of the project is to help small farmers to make a transition from farming for their own needs to commercial agricultural production, and support the development of non-farming business sector.
Bouzar stated that the expected results of the project include increased productivity and business development through strengthened business and advisory services, greater access to sustainable financial services, and improved access to market and business opportunities, and directly benefit from the project should be felt by 20,000 rural households in both entities.
The project will be implemented in 27 municipalities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 20 municipalities in RS.
It focuses on the least developed rural areas with limited resources, especially under the rural infrastructure component, which includes rural areas that have not been users of previous IFAD’s investments and those that have shown the potential to build on previous experience.
(Source: Fena)
