New program will benefit some 8,000 rural residents in the provinces of Chaco and Entre Ríos
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a loan for $30 million to Argentina to finance a program to increase incomes more than 2,000 family farms in the provinces of Chaco and Entre Ríos, of which 14 percent are managed by women heads of houshold.
The Rural Development and Family Farm Program is expected to benefit about 8,000 rural people by increasing producers’ productivity and income.
"This program takes an innovative approach by addressing the problems of access of the relatively most disadvantaged farmers to technology and financial resources,”said César Falconi, IDB project co-team leader. “We expect the program will provide lessons that can be replicated at the national level."
The program will support the adoption of new technologies and facilitate access to financing. It will provide technical assistance and training in both areas as well as in group management and marketing.
The program’s main objective is family farms support, to be carried out through assistance in the preparation and implementation of business plans.
The IDB loan for $30 million has 25-year term with a 5-year grace period and an interest rate based on LIBOR. Local counterpart financing totals $11 million.