Accra, Nov.10, GNA - Mr. Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) would pay a three-day visit to Ghana from Wednesday, November 19, as part of activities marking the 25th anniversary of the organisation.

A statement issued in Accra on Monday and signed by Mr Abeiku Owusu, Acting Chairman of the Publicity Sub-Committee of the IFAD Week Celebrations Committee said, during the visit Mr Bage would call on President John Agyekum Kufuor.

It said, he would in addition, hold consultations with the Ministers of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Finance and Economic Planning, Environment and Science , Local Government and Rural Development.

Other activities are a visit to AGRIFEX 2003, meeting with cassava farmers, visit an exhibition by IFAD beneficiaries at Asante-Mampong and hold meetings with bilateral and multi-lateral agencies in Ghana. The statement said IFAD, a UN financial agency had financed 12 major projects in Ghana since 1983 and disbursed more than 136 million dollars in the country, making its contribution to Ghana, the largest in the Region and demonstrated IFAD's sustained commitment to rural poverty reduction in Ghana.

It said IFAD also played a leading role in the provision of debt relief and made available 26 million dollars under the HIPC Initiative. On-going IFAD projects in Ghana are the Rural Financial Service Project (RFESP), the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP), the Root and Tuber Improvement Project (RTIP), the Upper East Land Conservation project and the Upper West Agricultural Development Project (UWEADEP).

The statement said because of the success of these projects, government had appealed to the IFAD to consider funding the second phases of the RTIP, VIP and the UWEADEP projects.

IFAD established in 1977, has financed over 630 rural development projects in more than 115 countries world-wide and spent more than 7.7 billion dollars in grants and loans to more than 250 million farmers, artisans, and landless workers. 10 Nov.03