Your Excellency Mr. Kanayo F. Nwanze,
President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development – IFAD,
Distinguished Governors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Excellencies,

First of all, allow me, on behalf of the Government of Angola, to convey my greetings to the Governing Council and also to congratulate the Chairman of the 35th session for his election.

Allow me also to greet all of you and wish that we will focus our ideas on the main purpose of this meeting, that is, to Strengthen Food Security, organized around the motto: “Sustainable smallholder agriculture: Feeding the world, protecting the planet
Despite the enormous potential in terms of agricultural development resources, the truth is that, with the emerging of such phenomena as climate change, conflicts, economic and financial crises, as well as the volatility of prices in most African countries, smallholder agriculture is still ill-equipped, unproductive and poorly protected. It does not have the means to progress and compete at international market level.

In the meantime we acknowledge that the developing countries are achieving progress in the fight against hunger, food insecurity and poverty.

We feel that the existing efforts of the developing countries need the concrete supported of the developed countries and international organizations at both bilateral and multilateral cooperation levels. In this framework IFAD plays a key role.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Angola has the natural potential to reach production levels that will contribute to harmonious development of its population. For this reason, the Government of Angola under the leadership of Eng. José Eduardo dos Santos prepared a medium to long term Programme for the agricultural development of the country and particularly the smallholder sector, to support approximately two million smallholder farmers, covering approximately 10 million beneficiaries.

The following Programmes are being implemented:

• The Rural Extension and Development Programme (PEDR) with two main aims: incentive for community organization, technical assistance to farmers and connecting them to markets;
  
• The Agriculture Campaign Programme to sustain the households with production factors.
  
• Programme to Fight Hunger and Poverty (PCFP) dealing not only with Agricultural issues, but also with social development issues, particularly in the areas of health, education, roads, water, energy, etc.
  
• Credit Campaign and Investment Programme aimed at sustaining farmers to purchase production factors.
  
• Programme for the Rehabilitation of irrigated perimeters and small irrigated crops for household farmers aiming at increasing irrigated areas in the country and diminishing the dependency of agriculture on rainfall.
  
• Programme for the construction and rehabilitation of storage infrastructures on the major axes of production
  
• Programme for the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructures for support and technical assistance on the livestock sector and,  
  
• Rural Trade Programme aimed at marketing agricultural production surpluses and to encourage production even more.
  The implementation of the above mentioned Programmes and Projects, together with the functioning of Luanda, Benguela and Namibe Railways and the rehabilitation of secondary and tertiary roads, have contributed to enhance production and productivity and therefore to improve the living conditions of rural populations.
  With the support of International Cooperation the following projects to sustain smallholder agriculture were and are being implemented:
• PRODECA – Project for the development of food crops in Malange, K. Norte e Uíge Provinces, financed by the Government of Angola and IFAD.
• PROJECT BOM JESUS – CALENGA – FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE financed by the Government of Angola and African Development Bank.
• MOSAP PROJECT – Smallholder Agriculture Project Market oriented, financed by the Government of Angola, World Bank, IFAD and Japanese Government.

Despite the above mentioned results, we are still facing many challenges, among others to establish a marketing circuit for surplus production and also to enhance the country’s storage capabilities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to stress that our institution, IFAD, has improved the efficiency and transparency of its work. The opening of offices in the countries, allows a better knowledge and follow-up of the contexts and also a quicker action.

It has been acknowledge not only the impact of the Projects financed by IFAD, but also its skills to promote partnerships and search for co-financing for its Programmes and Projects.

In what concerns the system of allocating financial resources based on performance, we feel that surely there are reasons for its application, they may prove to have some merit, but this system calls for continuous improvement, so as to prevent subjectivisms in assessments and less fair situations, where resources are not allocated to the ones needing them.

We welcome the success of the 9th Fund Replenishment Negotiations, culminating with the increase of countries’ contribution pledges in relation to the previous ones, in a time of a deep international financial crisis.

This means that countries recognize the importance, the reliability and the key role played by IFAD to improve the situation of small farmers and to minimize the problems of hunger and poverty.

Angola is going to contribute to the 9th Fund Replenishment and soon will announce the amount of its contribution.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me now conclude by addressing once again my warm congratulations and thanks to IFAD’s President, Dr. Kanayo Nwanze and his working team for the excellent job they have been doing.

Thank you very much for your attention

23 February 2012