LIMA, Peru – The Inter-American Development Bank and the International Cooperation and Development Fund of Taipei China (ICDF) today signed a coordination agreement to support of a program to help raise the incomes of the poor in rural areas of Nicaragua.
IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias and ICDF Secretary General Tzu-Pao Yang signed the document in a ceremony witnessed by Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Caldera and Finance Minister Eduardo Montealegre, on occasion of the annual meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors, which is taking place in Lima March 29-31.
The IDB is supporting the Nicaraguan program with a $60 million soft loan, while the ICDF is contributing $5 million in financing. The resources will enable Nicaragua’s Rural Development Institute to provide farmers access to specialized technologies to diversify production, as well as to training in marketing, sustainable farming practices and drought-damage reduction.
The program is expected to benefit some 35,000 families directly and 180,000 indirectly in 120 municipalities, including the North Atlantic and South Atlantic autonomous regions (RAAN and RAAS), which are largely inhabited by Afro-Nicaraguan and indigenous peoples.
The program draws on lessons from other IDB-financed rural development projects, emphasizing technical assistance, participation and gender equity. It also reflects the strategy of supporting economic growth and poverty reduction in Nicaragua by investing in infrastructure and human resources, promoting efficiency and productivity, and strengthening environmental protection.