Madam Chair,
President Dr. Nwanze,
Governors,
and Distinguished Delegates,

It is my pleasure to represent India at the 34th Session of IFAD's Governing Council.

The challenge of eradicating hunger remains a top priority for the world.  IFAD has a very important role to play in helping countries meet this challenge, and India remains a strong and steadfast supporter of the organization.

Poverty alleviation with focus on rural poor, food security, empowerment of rural women, capacity building, sustainable use of natural resources, and greater inclusion of the vulnerable and marginalised, must remain at the top of IFAD’s agenda.

Madam Chair,

The theme for this year’s interactive session, “Feeding future generations – Young rural people today, prosperous farmers tomorrow” is very relevant given that a significant proportion of the population in developing countries is under the age of 25.

The Rural Poverty Report, 2011 published by IFAD reveals many interesting facets of rural poverty and agriculture. It identifies the underlying causes of poverty and helps us understand better the present day crisis in rural areas. The emphasis in the report on sustainable agricultural intensification, importance of identification & management of risks, development of the rural non-farm sector, improved access to markets and strengthening the individual and collective capabilities of the rural people is particularly relevant.

We believe that the shift in the strategic objectives of IFAD towards promoting small holder farming as a business model will help empower the rural people to improve their productivity, competitiveness and income. A credible poverty alleviation strategy must necessarily take into account the need to enhance access of the rural poor to markets by eliminating bottlenecks in agricultural marketing and trade. The private sector has an important role across the value chain. In particular, it needs to pay more attention to the infrastructure for storage, handling and management of agricultural produce, land rights, sustainable utilization of resources and environmental conservation.

In India, agriculture is extremely important to the economy, even if the share of the agriculture sector in GDP has been steadily declining over the years. Its role remains critical as two-thirds of India’s population depend on rural employment for their living.

Given the fact that poverty is predominantly a rural phenomenon, India’s focus has been on providing access to resources, introducing appropriate technology and innovative practices in the agricultural sector, facilitating the development of markets and undertaking productive works such as rural roads, watershed development, rejuvenation of tanks, afforestation, irrigation and drainage and ensuring maintenance of rural infrastructure.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, launched in 2006, provided more than 52 million households employment under the scheme during the year 2009-10.

By bringing technology to the farmers, improving the efficiency of investments, increasing systems support and rationalising subsidies, diversifying (while simultaneously ensuring food security), and fostering inclusiveness through a group approach by which the poor will get better access to land, credit and skills, the Government has embarked on an ambitious program to implement its commitment to eliminate hunger. It is also considering legislation on the Right to Food.  I might mention that our farm sector is expected to grow at 5.4 percent during the current fiscal year.

Madam Chair,

IFAD has been an important partner in a number of projects in India that target marginalized communities living in difficult and remote geographical areas.  Even though they are small in size, the impact of IFAD projects, which are often viewed as a laboratory for innovative ideas aimed at helping people overcome poverty, is quite significant.

We have noted the ongoing internal re-configuration of the organisation which aims to position IFAD as a more agile and relevant institution in the coming decade. We wish to underline the importance of undertaking continuous reforms especially in the area of human resources so as to ensure that IFAD has adequate capability and skill to deliver its mandate and contribute to better results on ground.

We regard decentralisation, and expansion and strengthening IFAD’s country presence as very important. A strong country presence is essential not only for effective program implementation but also for better harmonisation of development effectiveness.

We welcome the commencement of the replenishment consultation. President Nwanze, we are confident that under your dynamic leadership the Ninth Replenishment process will be concluded successfully, enabling IFAD to face the challenges of the second decade of the new millennium. We are hopeful that expressions of support by developed and developing countries would result in a significantly expanded programme for IFAD. On our part, we are committed to carrying this process forward. India looks forward to taking an active part in the Replenishment Consultation of member states. While assuring our full cooperation and support to IFAD, we urge IFAD to continue to strengthen their endeavour in helping poor people of the developing countries fight poverty, hunger and illiteracy.

Before I close I would like to note that the Agreement establishing IFAD calls for equitable geographical representation in employment of staff. IFAD must remain committed to this objective, as also the need to ensure gender balance at all levels of the organisation.

19 February 2011