Lima: Peru’s government has approved a request to apply for loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and World Bank (WB) worth $80 million to help modernise the agricultural sector, the country’s Agriculture Minister, Milton von Hesse, said.

The minister said the loans, each half from the IDB and WB respectively, are part of refundable credit cooperation programmes, Xinhua reported.

Von Hesse said the money is earmarked for modernising the country’s agriculture as part of the government’s social inclusion policy.

The fund, combined with the $100 million contributed by the Peruvian government, will finance the National Agrarian Innovation Program set to begin in 2014 and conclude in 2018.

According to the minister, the programme will benefit some 250,000 people in the high Andean mountain region, living in communities situated more than 1,500 metres above sea level, through technical assistance, infrastructure work and vouchers for purchasing fertilisers.