IFAD - Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty
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  Soaring food prices and the rural poor   President's corner  
 

Soaring food prices and the rural poor
The prices of basic food commodities have increased rapidly over the past three years. The threat to food security in developing countries increases in stride. 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns that "the rapidly escalating crisis of food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions." "Responding effectively to the impact of higher food prices must be a top priority for the global community, particularly when the impact is combined with the projected effects of climate change", says Lennart Båge, IFAD's President.
IFAD has gathered information from its partners and staff on the ground on the impact of rising food prices on poor rural people.
Read more | IFAD’s response to the food price increases

 

President's corner

Supporting smallholders is crucial to food security, Financial Times, 7 July 2008

video Watch live interview with President Båge by BBC World News on soaring food prices on the occasion of G8 summit
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Statement of Lennart Båge, President of IFAD to FAO High-level conference on World Food Security and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy

Only a few green shoots, Economist, 7-13 June, 2008

U.N. Food Meeting Ends With a Call for ‘Urgent’ Action, New York Times, 6 June 2008

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Risks pay off in Colombia microenterprise programme
In 1997, a pilot programme in Colombia to promote rural microcredit was about to close because urban experiences with microcredit were not working in a rural setting. But then IFAD stepped in and encouraged programme staff to innovate and take risks. Ten years later, the programme was considered a model for action and knowledge both nationally and internationally. Its success is a result of an organizational process that succeeded in linking the entire chain, from production to processing to marketing. Phase II is now under way.
Read more | Browse stories from the field collection

 

Harvesting solutions: How poor rural people overcome povertyHarvesting solutions: How poor rural people overcome poverty
IFAD’s flagship publication looks at rural poverty today to seek solutions for the future Seventy-five per cent of the world’s poor people live in rural areas of developing countries, and this will continue to be the case at least until 2040. Each day, new issues and processes are reshaping the face of poverty in rural societies, including climate change, rising energy and food prices, agro-fuel production and increasing migration and urbanization. This means that development programmers and policymakers need to re-examine the way they respond.
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26 June: IFAD to provide additional US$4.2 million to Cape Verde to help poor rural people gain from economic growth
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17 June: Enhancing food security and reducing rural poverty in the North-west of Azerbaijan

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8-9 July: Third session of the Consultation on the Eighth Replenishment of IFAD's resources