I wish also to acknowledge President Obasanjo's key note address. It set the tone for the conference.

In Africa we pride ourselves in knowing that all attempts are being made to make the organisation run more efficiently. That special attention is being directed at tackling poverty, the scourge that has dogged Africa for a long time is a respite. We remain confident that the regional thrust that is being explored in the new strategic plan will go a long way towards resolving the specific regional concerns we may face. Our major concerns remain hunger, poverty, disease and trypanomeasis. The climatic changes have not spared us. Floods and droughts are visiting us interchangeably and we need to put in place a pragmatic response mechanism. IFAD has been there for us as one of the major investment partners in the rural areas and we see a vibrant role for it in meeting the challenges that continue to hamper our goal for eradication of hunger and poverty.

Since 1980, Zimbabwe has benefited from projects co-funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). These projects financed by IFAD include the National Agricultural Extension and Research Project; the Agricultural Credit and Export Promotion Project; the Smallholder Dry Areas Resource Management Project; the South-Eastern Dry Areas Project; and the Smallholder Irrigation Support Programme. The IFAD projects are aimed at increasing access to productive resources by smallholder farmers; enhancing food security through sustainable development; improving the agricultural productive capacity of smallholder farmers; and raising the living standards of rural communities.

The first two projects are now completed and have contributed largely to institutional strengthening of Government technical departments and an increased contribution by the smallholder farmers to gross agricultural output. The smallholder farmers who benefited from these projects have increased reduction of food, cash and export crops and, through diversification, the commercial farmers have increased the output of export and import substitution products. In Zimbabwe, smallholder farmers now produce more than 80% of Zimbabwe's cotton.

The current projects, the Smallholder Dry Areas Resource Management Project, the South-Eastern Dry Areas Project and the Smallholder Irrigation Support Programme, all aim at providing the poorer smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe's drier communal areas with enhanced food security and incomes, based on sustainable and drought responsive resource management by and for the community themselves. The emphasis of these projects is on mobilising communal communities into organisational structures capable of identifying, planning and managing income generating projects. The projects also focus on demand driven research and extension, and development of livestock, wildlife, and dry-land crop production techniques appropriate in the marginal rainfall regions.

However, the achievements gained by these projects since taking off the ground are likely to slow down given the current economic down turn the country is facing at the moment. Zimbabwe is likely to arrange rescheduling of its repayments to IFAD. This is to avoid suspension of project activities and dampen morale amongst shareholders, particularly the beneficiaries. It is hoped that Zimbabwe will benefit from the discussions in Plenary on how project implementation can proceed unhindered for those countries in arrears. The principle of flexible lending mechanism could save projects. That way repayments are rescheduled for slightly longer periods. Other financial systems do it. So I do not see a humanitarian institution cannot do the same. The projects we beginning to make positive impact on the livelihood of the communities in which they are being implemented. Under the Smallholder Dry Areas Resource Management Project, for example, several thousand smallholder farmers are benefiting from participatory and adaptive trials established by the projects in their areas. New varieties of crops, particularly maize, sorghum, millet and cowpeas, were introduced by the project. Demonstrations and promotion of bana grass have been put in place to improve forage production for livestock and conservation of soil.

For other two projects, the South-Eastern Dry Areas Project and Smallholder Irrigation Support Programme, the Government of Zimbabwe is satisfied with the progress made over the past few years. New systems and procedures for implementation, financial management and monitoring and evaluation of the progress of the projects have all been established and much has been done to break the culture of top-down government intervention. The Dry Areas Programme is increasingly becoming successful, and that its benefits will ultimately be far broader - in terms of policies and practices for rural development in Zimbabwe - than those originally envisaged.

Seventy per cent of our population live in Natural Region IV and V that are characterised by low erratic rains and poor fragile soils. They derive their livelihood from farming on these lowly productive soils. Most of these people are very poor. It is the Zimbabwe Government's view that development programmes and projects should target this vulnerable, land hungry and disadvantaged group so as to reduce the extent of poverty.

To this end, the Zimbabwe Government embarked on the second phase of the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme in October 1999 to redress the imbalances in land distribution that had remained skewed in favour of the minority of our community. To date, in excess of 251 000 families have been settled on 7.4 million hectares that was owned by large-scale commercial farms, and are located in areas of high agricultural potential. This could be an opportunity for the IFAD and international community to assist Zimbabwe to transform the indigenous farming sector into a vibrant commercial farming sector as this calls for the transformation of the existing farming systems and institutions, and stimulation of agro-industries and the provision of a supporting infrastructural base.

IFAD's continued assistance, not only in Zimbabwe but throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, should be appreciated. Most of the projects and programmes are aimed at increasing access to productive resources by smallholder farmers and enhancing food security through sustainable development. As coordinator of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources sector, Zimbabwe Government appreciates IFAD's technical assistance grant for the multi-donor Food Security and Rural Development Hub. At the moment, IFAD has also commissioned a Gender Diagnosis and Evaluation Study for IFAD-funded projects in Zimbabwe. The aim of this study is to facilitate the overall evaluation of the on-going projects identification, design, implementation and Monitoring and Evaluation Systems in relation to their inclusion of Gender issues. Based on the findings, IFAD will facilitate the design of effective and appropriate interventions for the discovered weaknesses. Zimbabwe is grateful to IFAD for this assistance and expresses hope that the evaluation will assess whether, and to what extend, the projects respond to the specific interests and needs of various categories of women, as compared to men and it will propose strategic actions to address current and potential weaknesses.

This briefing will not be enough without mentioning the HIV/AIDS scourge that has continued to be a major constraint to agricultural production in many developing countries. Zimbabwe is no exception. The problem has mainly affected the productive population between 15 and 49 years. More and more resources, in terms of time and finances, are being channelled to caring for the sick at the expenses of agricultural production. It is inevitable and paramount to improve and co-ordinate efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS so as to maintain the productive population and sustain agricultural production. Zimbabwe salutes the efforts by IFAD in funding activities aimed at extending its theme of knowledge empowerment at the community level into the realm of HIV/AIDS to support prevention; and to work towards establishing livelihood options for the poor outside high-risk activities.

In conclusion, it is hoped that there will be continued IFAD's assistance in supporting projects and programmes that are aimed at increasing access to productive resources by smallholder farmers and enhancing food security through sustainable development.