Press release number: IFAD 08/03

Rome, Feb 20, 2003 - Conflict and poverty reinforce each other, Mr. Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Wednesday.

“Poverty is the source of hopelessness and despair, which feed tensions that can lead to conflict,” warned Mr. Bage. “Conflict, on the other hand, is devastating for poor communities. In conditions of conflict, you cannot grow food, build businesses or otherwise take steps to improve your life.”

Mr. Bage was speaking on the opening day of the 25th anniversary of IFAD’s Governing Council. The gathering was attended by delegates from 162 member states, including 28 government ministers and guest of honour UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Former President of Mali Mr. Alpha Oumar Konaré warned that ignoring the plight of the world’s extreme poor would result in greater tension and conflict around the globe.

“If the international community is not prepared to devote substantial amounts to helping organizations like IFAD, WFP (World Food Programme), FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) and our countries, we will never find a way out of this predicament … and insecurity will increase for everyone in the world,” he warned. “If there is no peace, everything will be in vain. The over-riding obligation of the international organizations is to ensure that the world is a just place, that it is a world of peace and harmony, in which people have respect for each other.”

Ms. Eveline Herfkens, the UN Secretary-General’s Executive Director for the Millennium Development Goals Campaign, said that farm subsidies of the industrialized countries were seriously hampering prospects of eradicating poverty and hunger.

The eight Millennium Development Goals were agreed upon by 190 signatories at the Millennium Summit in 2000. Heading the list was a commitment to reduce by half the number of poor and hungry in the world by the year 2015.

“These Millennium Development Goals are doable,” said Ms Herfkens, speaking at a press conference on the first day of the Governing Council. “It is a question of the right priorities.” Western country farm subsidies are leading to over production, driving down world prices and undermining people’s livelihoods in developing countries, she said.

“It is intolerable that every cow in Europe is subsidised to the value of USD 2,” she added. “The world’s 1.2 billion poor, 75% of whom live in rural areas, eke out an existence on just USD 1 a day.

Ms Herfkens said that subsidies to cotton farmers in the United States had caused the collapse of cotton prices and especially hit African producers. West African countries have lost USD 200 million in foreign exchange earnings and the region’s 11 million cotton producing households have suffered increased poverty as a result of the subsidies.

She also pointed out that European Union subsidies of milk powder had destroyed the livelihoods of farmers in countries such as Tanzania.

Earlier, Mr Bage told the conference that fighting poverty is now a global priority, as evidenced by the international community’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

“In our 25 years, we have learned more about how to win the battle against rural poverty,” he said. “We know more about what works and what doesn’t. What we are doing today is based on decades of experience and practice.”

One of the key lessons that the Fund has learned is that the poor must lead their own development, said Mr. Bage.

“Only when that happens can we build a solid foundation for long term peace, stability and sustainability,” he said. “When the poor are empowered, the poor become more resilient and able to cope with change, hardship and disasters.”

Access to land, water and technology are vital, he stressed, as is access to credit.

---

IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 628 projects in 115 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.9 billion in loans and grants. Through these projects, about 250 million rural people have had a chance to move out of poverty. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favorable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.