Excellencies,
Honourable Delegates,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you Dr Diouf for your insightful and informative opening statement. 

I would first like to thank the Chair and members of the Bureau for the major efforts they have put into reforming the Committee on World Food Security over the past year. 

This year’s agenda, and the activities unfolding this week, clearly show the high level of commitment and work that has gone into this reform process. 

As we are all aware, while there has been encouraging progress on hunger and poverty reduction in many regions, globally the world is NOT on track to achieve the first Millennium Development goal of halving the proportion of people living in hunger and poverty.

As Dr Diouf noted – the number of hungry people in the world today is higher than in 1996, when the hunger-reduction target was set.

However, we will not be able to end hunger unless we also reduce extreme poverty and vulnerability.

In many countries -- particularly in sub Saharan Africa – this means making a major effort to boost food production and help poor rural people adapt to the impacts of climate change.

But in many countries, it also means ensuring that poor rural people have access to the food they need to be healthy and productive.

It is a cruel irony that farmers often do not have the land, the tools and the services they need to grow enough food for their families, let alone to sell on the market.

Three-quarters of Africa’s malnourished children live on small farms. Farm children also often go hungry in Asia and Latin America.

Indeed, more than two-thirds of the world’s extremely poor people live in the rural areas of developing countries, many of them on small farms.

But as farmers, they have tremendous potential to increase food production and improve food security.

Investing in small farmers is the most effective way to generate a broad-based movement out of poverty and hunger. 

This means improving their access to land, improving their access to appropriate technology, improving their access to financial services and markets, and responding to their other requirements.

The benefits of investing in small farmers has been increasingly recognized in the past few years, as evidenced by the range of new initiatives by governments and international organizations that directly or indirectly support smallholder farming. 

One innovative example is the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme.

This Programme brings together donors - including several governments, the Gates Foundation, and a number of partners, including IFAD, and civil society organizations - to fund projects that boost and commercialize smallholder production.

However, we need to be clear that increased investment in agriculture can deliver results only in the context of supportive and coherent national and international policy and partnership frameworks.

The Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda have taken us in the right direction, but improving aid effectiveness is only one part of the solution.

It is equally important that all stakeholders work together to share their experiences and their solutions and to create supportive policies that reflect the global, as well as local, nature of food security.

Reform of the CFS could not have come at a better time.

A reformed CFS which is more inclusive and which is now equipped with a stronger Secretariat, a broad-based Advisory Group and a panel of internationally accredited experts can play a central role.

We agree with FAO Director General Diouf that there is a pressing need for the CFS and its Panel of Experts to focus on food price volatility and food commodity markets, both at international and national levels. 

The impact of climate change on agriculture is another priority area that directly and increasingly threatens production and food security. 

The issue of secure and equitable access to land and water in a context of growing competition for natural resources is also extremely important.

All of these issues pose major challenges for farmers and food producers as they strive to invest in and modernize agriculture. 

IFAD believes that the CFS has a very important role to play in the years ahead.

We have participated intensively in the CFS reform process and we are committed to continued engagement in the new CFS. 

We are also working with FAO and WFP in the joint Secretariat and in the Advisory Group.  

IFAD is also providing some financial support for the CFS and will consider the possibility of further funding next year.

Our engagement in the CFS is basically a support function.

The success of the CFS reform depends primarily on the engagement and support of its member governments.  And this is precisely where the value-added nature of the CFS comes in – in its nature as an intergovernmental forum that can take legitimate and authoritative decisions on policy and action to end hunger. 

On that note, I will conclude with a plea that we take this opportunity to make the reform of the CFS a successful reality, and use it to achieve results on the ground.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a fruitful and interesting week and look forward to a successful outcome.

Thank you.

Rome, 11 October 2010