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Enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty in Sri LankaRural poverty in Sri Lanka
Despite the fact that the country has been engaged in a 26-year
conflict that ended only recently, Sri Lanka has made significant
economic and social progress over the past 30 years. Economic
growth has been rapid, and the estimated 2010 GDP growth rate
is over 9 per cent – among the top 10 in the world. Between 2006
and 2009, the poverty level fell by half to about 7 per cent. In the
past three decades, the country has made significant progress in
improving living conditions and access to basic services. However,
young people face an unemployment rate four times higher than
the population as a whole, according to 2010 estimates.
The great majority of the population lives in rural areas, though the country is
rapidly urbanizing. Almost a quarter of Sri Lankans live below the poverty line.
Four fifths of the country’s poor people live in the rural sector, and almost half of
the poor rural population consists of small-scale farmers. They are concentrated
in the Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces, where agricultural
growth has been sluggish, as well as in areas affected by the conflict.
Cofinancing: Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency (US$963,000); Japan Bank for International Cooperation(US$1.1 million); United NationsDevelopment Programme (US$1.5 million);World Food Programme (US$1.1 million)
Duration: 2005-2012
Directly benefiting: 80,000 households
The programme, one of two focusing on tsunami recovery, concentrates on
infrastructure (particularly housing) and strengthening communities to manage
coastal resources sustainably. Women are being helped in particular to participate
in social and economic activities. The programme’s activities in the eastern districts
are coordinated with those of an Asian Development Bank coastal resource
management project.
Dry Zone Livelihood Support and Partnership Programme Poverty rates are high in the arid districts of the dry zone, where many people have
little or no land. This programme enables poor rural people to gain better access to
land and water resources, services, technologies and market linkages for better
incomes. It benefits small-scale farmers, particularly young farmers and women.
Activities begin with a participatory assessment of constraints affecting areas from
production to marketing, in both rainfed and irrigated farming. Extension services
are being provided through hundreds of farmer field schools, where participants
develop solutions that they disseminate to individual farmers. Programme activities,
such as tank rehabilitation and infrastructure development, are demand-driven.
Self-managed savings and credit schemes are set up for people without previous
access to credit, and at least 80 per cent of the beneficiaries are women.
New and existing microenterprises are also supported, with at least 50 per cent
Post-Tsunami Livelihoods Support and Partnership ProgrammeTotal cost: US$4.7 million
IFAD loan: US$4.7 million
Duration: 2006-2011
Directly benefiting: 4,340 households
Matale Regional Economic Advancement ProjectTotal cost: US$14.5 million
IFAD loan: US$11.7 million
Cofinancing: German Agency for Technical Cooperation(US$571,000); World Food Programme (US$245,000)
Duration: 1999-2007
Directly benefiting: 30,000 households
North-Central Province Participatory Rural Development ProjectTotal cost: US$19.6 million
IFAD loan: US$8.5 million
Cofinancing: Japan (US$50,000); Swedish InternationalDevelopment Agency (US$3.3 million); World Food Programme(US$1.9 million)
Duration: 1996-2003
Directly benefiting: 24,000 households
North-Western Province Dry ZoneParticipatory Development Project Total cost: US$18.0 million
IFAD loan: US$8.9 million
Cofinancing: German Agency for Technical Cooperation (US$3.3 million)
Duration: 1993-2000
Directly benefiting: 12,000 households
Second Badulla Integrated Rural Development Project Total cost: US$21.2 million
IFAD loan: US$14.0 million
Cofinancing: United Nations Development Programme (US$2.5 million)
Duration: 1992-2002
Directly benefiting: 15,000 households
Small Farmers and Landless Credit Project Total cost: US$17.8 million
IFAD loan: US$6.7 million
Cofinancing: Canadian International Development Agency (US$6.5 million)
Duration: 1989-1997
Directly benefiting: 32,870 households
Completed operations
Building a poverty-free worldThe International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) works with poorrural people to enable them to growand sell more food, increase theirincomes and determine the directionof their own lives. Since 1978, IFADhas invested about US$13.2 billion in grants and low-interest loans todeveloping countries through projectsempowering about 400 million people to break out of poverty, therebyhelping to create vibrant ruralcommunities. IFAD is an internationalfinancial institution and a specializedUN agency based in Rome – theUnited Nation’s food and agriculturalhub. It is a unique partnership of 167 members from the Organizationof the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developingcountries and the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD).
International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentVia Paolo di Dono, 44 00142 Rome, ItalyTel: +39 06 54591 Fax: +39 06 5043463E-mail: [email protected] www.ifad.org
December 2011
Enabling poor rural peopleto overcome poverty
Contacts Ya TianCountry Programme ManagerIFADVia Paolo di Dono, 4400142 Rome, ItalyTel: +39 06 5459 2062Fax: +39 065459 3062E-mail: [email protected]