The Inter-American Development Bank has approved a US$80 million credit line and an initial individual operation of US$20 million under this line to help Paraguay improve agricultural productivity through investments aimed at enhancing the government’s ability to deliver quality public services to producers. The specific goal of this first individual operation is to help boost the agricultural sector’s productivity and environmental sustainability by strengthening the country’s capacity to generate and transfer technology.

To this end, the operation will finance actions to improve the institutional effectiveness of the Instituto Paraguayo de Tecnología Agraria (IPTA, the country’s Agrarian Technology Institute) to generate, manage and transfer technology. These actions will be complemented with agreements with the private sector and research institutes to boost up access to national and regional knowledge, and with efforts to obtain additional resources.

The program will also support other IPTA activities, including its strategic management, its product management, and its human resources support and management capabilities. In addition, it will contribute to develop the institute’s innovation and technology transfer abilities, financing 11 priority innovation lines, including direct operational costs, hiring qualified local and international experts to stimulate high-priority programs, and promoting forestry research projects.

Other areas supported by the program include financing infrastructure, equipment and cross-cutting services for the implementation of some of IPTA’s main lines of research, such as the rehabilitation of its four investigation centers and the procurement of agricultural equipment, machinery, vehicles and laboratories.

Upgrading IPTA’s profile as a public entity responsible for the agricultural sector’s technological development will benefit researchers –who will receive specialized training–, the country’s farming sector in general, and in particular some 15,000 producers within the area of influence of the Research Centers, who will have access to technologies generated by the institution’s main research programs.

The US$80 million credit line and the first individual operation under this line, for US$20 million, have both a 22 year and 9 month amortization period, a 7 year and 9 month grace period, and a Libor-based interest rate.



About the IDB

The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.