Announcement of IDA Credit of Fifteen Million Fifty Thousand US Dollars to Help Liberia Increase Agricultural Production on May 6, 1982

. FOR IMME.DIA TE RELEASE: .. •World Bank 1818 H Stree\ N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. e Telephone: (202) 477-1234 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 82/68 Contact: Pushpa Schwartz May 6, 1982 (202) 477-5306 IDA CREDIT OF $15.5 MILLION TO HELP LIBERIA INCREASE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION Some 8,000 farm families in Liberia will increase their production of food and cash crops through an agricultural development project assisted by an SOR 13.3 million ($15.5 million) credit from the International Development Associa- tion (IDA), the World Bank's affiliate for concessio;·,.ary lending. The $28 million project, the second IDA-supported project for agricultural development in the Lofa county region, will further the government's aim to increase smallholder participation in agriculture. Co-financing of $9.6 million is to be provided by the African Development Fund. Under the project, up to $5 million will be lent to individual farmers through a cooperative system to help provide farm supplies such as fertilizers and seeds. The project will seek to develop 7,400 hectares of rice, 3,590 hectares of coffee, 1,940 hectares of cocoa, and 600 hectares of cassava. Families will benefit by increasing their incomes through the sale of their produce. An extension system to teach agricultural techniques will be included in the project to help smallholder farmers expand their production. The training and visit system will be used,and female extension workers will be employed to reach women farmers. Improvements wi11 also be made in the agricultural produce marketing corporation and in the operations of agricultural cooperatives. Living conditions in the region will be upgraded through the construction of feeder roads, farm access tracks, farmer subcenters, village wells, and latrines. The swamp-rice areas involved in the project will be monitored for schistosomiasis, a tropical disease prevalent in the country. The project will also provide technical assistance to establish a Central Monitoring and Evaluation Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture to train and super- vise evaluation units for regional agricultural development projects like the one in Lofa county. The IDA credit is for 50 years, including 10 years of grace; it carries no interest but bears a small annual service charge of 0.5% on the undisbursed balances of the credit, and 0.75% on the disbursed balances. NOTE: IDA credits are denominated in SDRs (Special Drawin9 Rights), which are valued on the basis of a 11 basket 11 of currencies. The U.S. dollar equivalent of the SDR amount of the IDA credit reflects the exchange rates existing at the time of negotiation of the credit. - rs z · r $}? tt