General Statement by the Governor (Head of Delegation) –International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Governing Council – Zimbabwe 2005

I first and foremost, would like to extend our condolences and sympathy to the victims of the Tsunami catastrophe and its aftermath.

Zimbabwe is one of the 163 nations that have secured membership to IFAD council. Like most African Member States, it experiences persistent hunger and poverty among its marginalized communities. We take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to IFAD for its activities in our country and in Africa as a whole. With substantial experience of working in Zimbabwe, IFAD had been able to combine its capacity with local efforts to foster sustainable development.

IFAD has mapped the way forward in improving the welfare and food security of vulnerable communities in a world where over 800 million of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas, most of them relying on food relief. The situation in sub Saharan Africa is quite acute and has been made worse by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Natural disasters are among the major causes of these challenges and together with other factors lead to a vicious cycle of poverty. Given the current chronic food shortages in Africa, way out strategies should include measures to increase agricultural production, productivity and food availability. African initiatives such as NEPAD show serious attempts by African Governments to reduce poverty, hunger and food insecurity as well as related problems throughout the continent.

With the help of IFAD’s loans and grants, Zimbabwe’s poverty reduction strategies were poised to achieve considerable success had it not been for the suspension. Such strategies include small scale irrigation schemes to boost small crop production, livestock restocking, environmental protection and conservation and applied research to ensure sustainable production and the empowerment of rural communities.

Zimbabwe suffered from consecutive years of drought that impacted negatively on agricultural production. Faced with the task of averting humanitarian crisis, the Government had used the much-needed foreign exchange to import food, fuel and medicines and had therefore been unable to meet its obligations to IFAD in 2002 and 2003 timely. This led to the suspension of disbursements to SEDAP and SDARMP projects. However the Government of Zimbabwe recognized the impact of these projects and committed resources to carry on with outstanding work on the projects until the suspension is lifted.

Meantime, Zimbabwe remains committed to honouring its obligations regarding international financial institutions including IFAD. To this end, a sum of US$300 000.00 has been deposited into the IFAD’s account towards repayment of arrears. Efforts to have the loan repayment rescheduled are yet to bear fruit.

It is unfortunate that the flow of IFAD assistance had been interrupted by Zimbabwe’s social and political difficulties and inability to pay its debt and service arrears, otherwise the Government had taken upon itself to create a conducive environment for meaningful growth and development. While agriculture remains the mainstay of the economy the Government has made massive strides in improving mechanisms to strengthen the national financial climate through the Reserve Bank’s tight monetary policy. The move has resulted in a significant reduction in inflation coupled with improved forex inflows. It is anticipated that this will help resuscitate normal loan repayment to IFAD and other international financial institutions.

Despite IFAD’s commendable role, the challenge of meeting the MDGs remain quite a mammoth task. To enhance food security, Zimbabwe is implementing well coordinated programmes ranging from land and agrarian reforms, improving agricultural mechanization, irrigation development, crops and livestock input support, as well as (forward) contract marketing programmes. Further, it promotes equal access to land, credit, technology and other key agricultural inputs and also the empowerment of women. This is because we believe that food insecurity, whether the causes are man-made or beyond human control, could be surmounted given political will and necessary resources. The country strategies effectively target problems of extreme poverty and deprivation and concentrate on reaching the poor and vulnerable.

The Performance Based Allocation System introduced welcome transparency in the allocation of IFAD resources, but this should not be used as a means of excluding well deserving projects and programmes. Further work is needed on developing objective, sensitive and measurable criteria. To this end I wish to register my dissatisfaction with the rating that my country has been accorded, despite the heavy investment in agricultural extension and rural infrastructural development. The Government of Zimbabwe has proven its serious attention to rural population, often at the expense of urban inhabitants but the scoring for the country on any of the ratings does not in any way reflect the rural bias adequately. This scenario requires serious review, if only to give encouragement in areas where credit is warranted. We all have different scenarios in our development strategies, so these should be reflected in the assessment. As agreed from the beginning IFAD should consult governments closely in the assessment. Further, the assessment should not be viewed as a one size fit all. After a year’s implementation, we should review the benefits and adjust where necessary to suit our needs.

After consultation with some in my region, I found that in many cases the proposed allocation per country fall far short of the requirements of the programmes on the ground. I hope that IFAD will try to address this disparity. Our national strategies incorporate action to combat HIV/AIDS while attending to gender mainstreaming. It is hoped that IFAD would give due attention to the devastating pandemic and its effect on projects. We have already established a National Aids Trust Fund to help the infected and the affected. On gender, Zimbabwe has recently appointed the first ever woman Vice President while the ruling party ZANU PF has made it policy that 30% of its parliamentary candidates should be female. The rural areas will have a fair representation. This way, women who make up the majority of our farmers will have a say in governance.

Comments on the Agenda

It is quite commendable that the proposed agenda for the twenty-eighth session of the IFAD Governing Council makes it possible to attend to many issues through the current theme, “Achieving the Millennium Goals, Rural Investment and Enabling Policy”. However, there is need for particular issues embedded in such broad areas of discussion to come out clear and obvious. For example under PBAS report, provision should be given to observe specific member country situation and allow for negotiable stance in relation to issues of loan repayment especially for poor countries that are heavily indebted but with highly deserving populations. This way, IFAD can address its objective of helping the poorest of the poor with success rather than get into the trap of attending to well-performing countries with small rural poor populations while overlooking the plight of the hungry and poor.

Finally, I wish to commend the IFAD staff for the work that has gone into the introduction of the new Performance Evaluation Programme. We go away against the background of the evaluation of the organization to be finalized soon. We hope the findings will help us to overcome undue challenges and improve delivery of country programmes to effectively address the needs of our populations.

I thank you.