Sri Lanka

Nearly 58,000 farming households in Sri Lanka are expected to benefit from a U.N.-funded program designed to improve their livelihoods, boost their incomes and enhance their participation in the marketing and selling of their products. The USD25 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will enable the country’s National Agribusiness Development Program to help small producers, women, landless households and young people in rural areas. Among the program’s goals is to increase the incomes of smallholder farmers by 20 to 30 per cent, and help farmers become directly involved in processing and marketing their products such as fruits, vegetables, spices, cereal, milk and dry fish. (U.N. News Service)