Journalist-Kenya
[NAIROBI] Kenya will receive US$33 million from
the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to finance the Upper
Tana Catchment Natural Resource Management Project.
The project will also get another EUR
12.8 million from the Spanish Food Security Co-financing Facility Trust Fund will
also be provided to fund the same project.
This new project is targeting smallholder
farmers in the area with the objective of reduce rural poverty through
sustainable management of their natural resource base.
The two loans was signed on May 23 between
Josephine Wangari Gaita, Ambassador of the Republic
of Kenya to Italy
and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Agencies in Rome,
and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD
Poverty and environmental
degradation are inter-linked and linked in Kenya and poor water management,
soil erosion, declining soil fertility and land degradation are compounded by
the impact of climate change, which has led to a decline in agricultural yields
over past decades.
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| An Aerial photograph of the flooded TANA RIVER in Kenya |
In some parts of the country, the
droughts in 2009 and 2011 generated food emergencies, while flooding in 2010
and recently in 2012 severely affected some parts of the country.
The project will be a scaling up of
the Mount Kenya East Pilot Project for Natural Resource Management supported by
IFAD and the Global Environment Facility. It will help to promote environmental
conservation as a means to ensure sustainable livelihoods for poor rural people
in five selected river basins of the Upper Tana River.
It will cover about 17,420 square
kilometres and include 24 river basins that drain into the Tana
River with the aim to increase the food production and incomes of
the poor rural families living in the area.
Approximately 205,000 poor rural
households will benefit from the project co-financed by the Kenya and will
have a particular focus on women
With this
new project, IFAD will have financed 16 programmes and projects in Kenya for a
total investment of $247.5 million
benefiting 4,200,097 rural
households since 1979
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