IFAD, India Launch Rural Development Strategy

New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The International Fund for Agricultural Development and India on Tuesday launched an eight-year strategy to expand rural incomes and position the country as an exporter of agricultural development models to Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

The Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP) 2026–33, unveiled at a ceremony in New Delhi's Bharat Mandapam, sets out two objectives -- strengthening the economic and climate resilience of rural communities and scaling proven development models domestically and across the Global South.

The strategy is aligned with India's Viksit Bharat@2047 development vision and builds on two decades of joint programming, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said in a statement.

In Maharashtra, nearly one million women have built credit histories through self-help group federations, unlocking over Rs 1,300 crore in bank lending amid repayment rates approaching 99 per cent.

In Meghalaya, shared cold storage and logistics infrastructure have enabled smallholder farmers to supply to buyers as far as Dubai.


"What we are building together is not a collection of projects, it is a system that connects institutions, finance, infrastructure and markets," said Donal Brown, IFAD Associate Vice-President, at the event.

The programme places community institutions, self-help groups, farmer-producer organisations and cooperatives at the centre of efforts to link smallholders to finance, technology and markets.

IFAD said it would focus on mobilising co-financing and embedding proven approaches within India's policy frameworks.

On the occasion, IFAD signed a strategic partnership with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to expand rural finance and develop blended finance instruments for smallholders and agri-enterprises.

Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur said the partnership had evolved from basic poverty alleviation toward "sustainable, market-oriented rural livelihoods that are resilient to climate and economic shocks".

The strategy also seeks to leverage India's experience from its G20 Presidency to share rural development models, including cooperative governance and digital agricultural services, with partner countries.