Release number IFAD/15/08

Ban Ki-moon calls for greater support for smallholder farmers and the rural poor in the face of a “development emergency” 

Rome, 13 February 2008 – The 31st session of IFAD’s Governing Council opened this morning with the election of Abba Sayyadi Ruma, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, as the council’s chairperson for the next two years. Delegates from 164 Member States are attending the two-day session of IFAD’s highest decision-making authority.

Addressing the Governing Council, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank, said: “Today the attention of the world’s policymakers is focused on the sub-prime woes, and on the financial crises.

“But the real crisis is that of hunger and malnutrition for most of the two billion people in the world living on less than US$2 a day and the almost one billion living on US$1 a day or less.

This is the real problem that should grab the world’s attention,” she said.

“Agriculture is today, more than ever, a fundamental instrument for fighting hunger and malnutrition, and for supporting sustainable development and poverty reduction,” she added.

Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank noted that it is evident that we are at a turning point. “We are all stimulated by the renewed attention to agriculture by international financial institutions and UN agencies, but also from foundations such as Bill and Melinda Gates,” he said. “Such initiatives do not only bring in additional resources but also novel approaches.” 

In his opening address, Lennart Båge, President of IFAD, said that climate change is pushing up the price of development. “Substantial and additional money will be needed to help poor countries adapt to climate change and make our investments ‘climate proof,’” he said.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said in a message: “The work of IFAD has never been more important.

We face a development emergency.

The year 2008 must be the year of the ‘Bottom Billion’, the poorest, most disadvantaged segment of humanity.”

“As the United Nations agency devoted to supporting smallholder farmers and other rural poor, IFAD has a major role to play,” he added.

Massimo D’Alema, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, praised IFAD’s reform, saying it was now a model for other organizations to follow.

“The robust internal restructuring programme started three years ago has unanimously been considered a reform model, both for the UN and for international financial institutions,” he added.

The Minister for Agriculture of Saudi Arabia, Dr Fahad bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim, addressed the meeting on behalf of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. 

“Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to the issues of climate change and urges IFAD to give importance to projects and programmes that help raise the efficiency of natural resource management, combat desertification and protect the environment from natural disasters,” he said.

As one of IFAD’s founding Member States, Saudi Arabia played a critical role in the creation of IFAD 30 years ago, and has continued to champion its causes ever since. Saudi Arabia recently proposed the establishment of a fund for research focused on the causes of climate change, including oil.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, speaking on behalf of President John Agyekum Kufuor, said Ghana has benefited from IFAD’s support over the years.

While many smallholder farmers in Africa are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, “It is my conviction, however, that rural poverty could be reduced if pragmatic and well-resourced policies are geared towards the development of the agricultural sector,” said Mahama.

He also called for “more effective collaboration and partnership between the developed and developing world”.

Jean Nkuete, Vice Prime Minister of Cameroon, in his statement said climate change today is a major concern. “Carbon gas emissions don’t respect borders,” he said, so all action to combat climate change must be global.

The Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), James Butler, emphasized the importance of the increased cooperation between the three Rome-based UN agencies, FAO, IFAD and the World Food Programme (WFP) in the face of unprecedented hikes in food prices, the repercussions of climate change and growing demand for bioenergy. “These are new challenges for our organizations,” he added.

The Executive Director of WFP, Josette Sheeran, reminded the conference that 80 per cent of food insecure people live in rural areas. “The partnership between WFP, IFAD and FAO is even more vital in an era of climate change,” she said. To commemorate IFAD’s thirtieth anniversary, the Italian Mint has issued 20,000 commemorative €5 silver coins.

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IFAD was created 30 years ago to tackle rural poverty, a key consequence of the droughts and famines of the early 1970s. Since 1978, IFAD has invested more than US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have helped more than 300 million very poor rural women and men increase their incomes and provide for their families.
IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency. It is a global partnership of OECD, OPEC and other developing countries. Today, IFAD supports more than 200  programmes and projects in 84 developing countries.