Statement by the 2nd Vice President and Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Food Security of Malawi, Rt. Hon. Dr. Chakufwa T. Chihana, at the twenty-seventh Governing Council session of IFAD in Rome, Italy on 18th February 2004 (read by Dr Charles J. Matabwa)

The Chairperson,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour for me and my delegation to address this Twenty Seventh Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Allow me to convey greetings and well wishes from the President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr. Bakili Muluzi to all Governors.

To begin with, let me join the previous speakers in congratulating you, the chairperson, for being appointed to steer this session. The task before us during this session is huge and challenging but I have been confident that with your leadership this meeting will achieve the goal of the Session. I therefore still wish you well in your task.

My sincere thanks and appreciation also goes to the President of IFAD for his able stewardship of the organization. IFAD continues to be an important partner of agricultural development in the world. Malawi is proud to be closely associated with this organization.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the goals our world leaders set in World Food Summits of 1996 and 2001 are targets we cannot avoid to miss. Although there are some regions where people have enough food to feed themselves and live quality life, there are equally many other regions where people are malnourished and starving to death, especially in Sub Saharan Africa. The goal of halving the worlds hungry and poor by 2015 therefore, cannot in any way be postponed to a later date but rather be fulfilled even before the set date.

Two years ago when we met in a similar session, we all reaffirmed our commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as spelt out in the two World Food Summits. As the report from the President revealed, IFAD has made significant contributions towards the fight against hunger and poverty in the world. However, as the report admits, the challenge to feed the worlds hungry is growing by day as demonstrated by the rising figure (800 million to 842 million) of the malnourished people. This situation is made worse by increasing scourge of HIV/AID which is nabbing active Malawians: drawing us backward. It is our hope that a way will be found to defeat this scourge.

Mr. Chairman, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that Africa has over 200 million malnourished people of which 30 million require food assistance every year. In Malawi, although we did not require any food assistance in the 2003/04 season, considerable quantities of humanitarian food assistance were demanded in 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons. This season, the situation is also gloomy as the country experienced late on set of rains which caused delayed planting of crops in some parts of the country and wilting in others. Our forecast indicates that the country will experience a food shortfall of about 30% - 40%. It is our hope that the rains that are pouring daily now, will continue to end of March/April. Under the cooperation with IFAD, Malawi is benefiting from the SPFS/South-South Cooperation where we have 4 experts and 23 technicians in 4 various areas: agriculture, crops, livestock and irrigation.

We are very grateful for the support given to us both financially and technically under SPFS/South-South Cooperation. As many of us are aware, Africa plans to approach the issue of agricultural development through the formulation and subsequent fast track implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). This program aims at extending the area under sustainable agricultural production, development of agricultural infrastructure, ensuring of food security and improving agricultural research and extension. Malawi is party to this program and is currently actively involved in the formulation of national level flagship projects. The main task at hand however, is the mobilisation of resources to enable the program take off. Malawi therefore joins other African States in appealing to the International Community for increased agricultural investments into the continent.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Malawi’s cooperation with IFAD is very good. The fund has and continues to support financially and technically various agricultural development initiatives in Malawi. Currently, the Fund is supporting the Smallholder Flood Plains Development Project (SFPDP) which is aimed at improving smallholder household food security. This project was initiated in 1998 and is expected to run until next year (2005) with a total outlay of US$12.5 million from the Fund.

In view of the fact that the country needs to do more in the area of agricultural development in order to win the fight against the nation’s hunger and poverty, the Government of Malawi seeks to appeal to IFAD and the International Community to expand their grants and loans to Malawi. Priority areas for agricultural investments are in the following:
(i) Irrigation Development;

(ii) Rural Infrastructure Development;
(iii) Agro-processing;
(iv) Ensuring access to inputs by smallholder farmers;
(v) Capacity building in production and marketing development; and;
(vi) Technology development and transfer

We are confident, Mr. Chairman, that IFAD will continue supporting Malawi for years to come.
In conclusion, I wish to once again thank the President of IFAD for inviting Malawi to participate in this important meeting. We salute IFAD for putting together a program that included Round Table Discussions with important themes for sharing views.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, with these remarks, I wish to thank you all for your attention.