President of IFAD,
Heads of other institutions,
IFAD Governors,
Distinguished delegates and guests,

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to address the thirty-third session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development. To begin with, on behalf of my delegation, let me express our deepest gratitude to the President of IFAD, Mr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, and the secretariat for the excellent arrangements for the meeting.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This gathering today reflects the global effort to improve the lives of the poor around the world. I am glad to be a part of this and to share our concerns and issues. In Maldives - though referred to as a "paradise" by most people who visit the tourist destination - many live in hardship, fighting their way to provide the basic needs of their families. We are hit by the global recession and economic downturn along with the food price crisis, as well as by the harsh realities of climate change. As in many other countries, the global instability and precariousness had adversely affected the most vulnerable segment of the population, which is the rural farming and fishing communities. The Government of Maldives had set priority to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and fishers. Projects and programmes to improve access to land, better market and investment to promote private sector investment in smallholder farming and fishing, are ongoing and in the pipeline. These projects have been formulated in a manner that addresses the fishers’ and farmers’ basic needs and implemented in a participatory manner to empower rural communities to better manage their resource base, improve their food security status and incomes and enhance access of the poorest to basic services. Our commitment to food security recognizes poor quality food and poor health, particularly among women and children.

IFAD had been our major development partner in these interventions, and on behalf of the Government of Maldives, and personally, I thank IFAD for the vision and commitment to develop the rural communities, especially the fisher folks and farmers of the Maldives.

Madam Chair,

Climate change, food security and smallholder agriculture remain an important theme for this year’s session. Maldives being one of the most environmentally-vulnerable countries in the world, this is very close to our hearts. Climate change continues to overshadow our efforts to overall development. The past few years had been the worst years of fish catch, and experts strongly relate this to climate variability. We observed unusual storms and rain that caused flooding and salt water intrusion in many agricultural islands destroying crops. Unusual ecological and environmental changes became a challenge for pest and disease control, caused further desolations to farmer families.

My Government is not only concerned about these matters, but is very proactive in bringing them to the attention of the global community. We have initiated major programmes to achieve energy efficiency, and have unilaterally declared the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2020. We know we can do very little to control the actions of larger countries. But, we hope that such symbolic approaches will get the message across.

Madam Chair,

We cannot discard these issues as mere coincidences. We must wake up to the reality that changes are happening to natural systems in an incremental manner. We must take collective action to combat this imminent threat to our livelihoods and our mere existence. More frequent and severe storms, flooding and erosion have irreversible consequences to small island nations such as ours. As a small coral island state, we depend on a very narrow resource base. Therefore, commitment, ingenuity and careful utilisation of meagre resources are fundamental for our survival.

Madam Chair,

Despite these challenges, our development strategies are pro-poor. We are looking into:

• Strengthening the institutional framework for agriculture and fisheries development.
• We give priority to strengthen our human resources, to have a strong institution, to meet the challenges of globalisation.
• Creating favourable policies and legal environment for commercial agriculture and aquaculture.
• Strengthening market efficiency for agricultural and fisheries inputs and outputs. We would like to explore niche markets, so that the little we can produce can be value-added.
• Improving support services and creating a conducive administrative and legal environment for the sector. We are reviewing and harmonising legislation and streamlining various procedures to improve efficiency and transparency.

But, we need assistance and continued support to consolidate our efforts to enhance food security and poverty alleviation in the Maldives.

Once again, I thank IFAD and other international communities who realise our challenges and assist us achieving our goal of poverty alleviation.

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish you a very successful Council.

Thank you.

18 February 2010