IFAD invests €77.7 million in Niger for food and nutrition security and climate change resilience
The International Fund for Agricultural Development of the United Nations (IFAD) today announced a new project that will boost support for about 210,000 poor rural households in Niger that are vulnerable to climate shocks and food insecurity.

In Niger, most people live in rural areas and depend on small-scale family farming and livestock production for their subsistence. In fact, 85 per cent of the active population are employed in this kind of agriculture, which accounts for 43.4 per cent of GDP. Improving small-scale agricultural production and productivity so that farmers can move from subsistence to commercialization is vital to reducing poverty and improving food and nutrition security in rural areas.

The COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken against it have added new dimensions to the situation. With the existing vulnerabilities in the country, the crisis poses a genuine threat to livelihoods, in particular of small-scale farmers, and the adverse effects are expected to linger on unless there is concrete investment in the agriculture sector.