IFAD in Sao Tome and Principe
Since 1985 IFAD has supported agricultural development and rural poverty reduction in the country through loans financing five programmes and projects. IFAD’s investments amount to US$17.6 million, out of a total cost of US$37.4 million.
The ongoing Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme addresses the needs of poor rural people in the sectors of agriculture and fisheries with the objective of improving their access to internal and external markets. The first project financed by IFAD was the Artisanal Fisheries Development Project, which had the aim of strengthening the physical and institutional capacity of fishers to improve their outputs and incomes. The Pilot Food Crop Development Project worked to broaden the scope of an applied research programme in food crops and to create a decentralized extension system. IFAD financed the National Smallholders Support Programme (PNAPAF), contributing to the comprehensive national agricultural development effort.
IFAD’s strategy
IFAD’s strategy has the aim of improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and fishers by ensuring that the necessary accompanying measures are provided in a flexible framework, which evolves gradually and which should in due course become self-sustaining. To achieve this goal IFAD focuses on promoting public-private partnerships with socially and environmentally aware companies that are willing to commit themselves to invest and remain in the country for as long as necessary to build pro-poor value chains, including organic and fair trade value chains.
IFAD invests in programmes and projects that work to:
- improve the country’s infrastructure and processing technologies
- support agricultural services and markets
- improve people’s access to markets and services
The objective is to empower poor rural people to take charge of their own development, particularly through their own associations, working with service providers, NGOs and the government.
Source: IFAD
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