IFAD to prepare growth studies with $ 75 mln in Yemen

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is to prepare designs and studies for the rural growth project in five Yemeni provinces at a cost $ 75 million, . This came during a meeting gathered Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Farid Mujawar on Monday in Sana'a with head of the experts team working on the design of the rural growth project ,Terry May, and Director of the IFAD Office in Yemen , Fathia Bahran. The meeting reviewed goals and activities of the project in its interventions in supporting the infrastructure for the rural areas in the targeted provinces, focusing mainly on the agricultural development activities. The Minister of Agriculture praised the role of IFAD in supporting agricultural development paths in Yemen, hopping further cooperation and expansion in the implementation of new projects contributing to supporting and developing the agricultural sector in Yemen and to strengthen its role in providing food security. Mujawar called for the need to accelerate the pace of the proceedings for the implementation of IFAD projects and taking into account the exceptional circumstance experienced by Yemen. For his part, head of the IFAD experts team confirmed his readiness to coordinate with officials of the Fund to accelerate procedures for completing the studies for the project and begin to implement it. He indicated that there is a mission of IFAD will visit Yemen during the next phase for the purpose of developing the final arrangements for the start of the project implementation. The IFAD’s official pointed to the importance of the project in improving and developing of infrastructure for the rural development projects and activities because it will focus on improving the lives of people in rural areas through the use of alternative energy sources. The rural growth project is one of important projects that will serve the agricultural development in rural areas in Yemen, while the financing gap for this project amounted to $ 40 million.