IFAD’s 33rd Governing Council session ends

Rome, 18 February 2010 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) ended its Governing Council meeting today with a renewed call by Member States for investment in smallholders to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Setting the tone at the opening session of the Fund’s annual meeting, the President of IFAD, Kanayo F. Nwanze said it was time to focus on “encouraging entrepreneurs – both small and large-scale – to invest in the entire rural economy and forge strong economic relations between the rural and urban economies”.

In his message, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, reminded the Council that in order for food security to be both comprehensive and sustained, it is necessary to “give pre-eminence to the interests of women, who juggle their time between food production, processing, marketing, childcare and balancing the household budget”.  

Investment in women as a major driving force of economic growth and food security was brought up repeatedly in speeches, statements and discussions throughout the two-day meeting.

For the first time, the 165 Member States of IFAD held their meeting at the Fund’s Rome headquarters.  A plenary panel – From summit resolutions to farmers’ fields: climate change, food security and smallholder agriculture – provided a vibrant interactive dialogue about the importance of shifting the perception of governments, civil society and the private sector so that smallholder farms are treated as small business enterprises.

Panellists Mizengo P. Pinda, Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania; Sir Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development; Dr Nahed Mohammed Taher, CEO of Gulf One Investment Bank; Mr Ajay Vashee, President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP); Ms Haydee Castillo Flores,Coordinator of the Women’s Forum for Central American Integration; and Kevin Cleaver, Associate Vice-President, Programmes at IFAD, discussed how to create a conducive environment to enable smallholders to actively participate in the design of policies to strengthen rural financial services and local infrastructure.

The discussion highlighted the crucial role of women in rural societies and how to provide them with the right support.

“Women are successful in business because they have capacity to wait for things to grow,” said panellist Dr Taher, one of Forbes magazine’s 100 most powerful women in 2009.

In his role as panel moderator, CNN anchor Jim Clancy added, “If you want to mainstream or teach anything, teach it to a woman and she will teach it to her children and the people around her.”

Parallel to the Governing Council, a number of side events addressed critical issues for sustainable development and poverty reduction.

The importance of south-south cooperation in the field of family farming was the theme of one side event, which brought together delegates from Asia, Latin America and Africa. The meeting addressed issues of a dual economy, diversification, environmental and land tenure issues, and the need to support market reform.

The need to act regionally and think creatively was a central part of the discussion at a side event about adapting management of water resources to climate change in the Near East, North Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. The impact of climate change on water availability and agriculture, with increasing droughts and freshwater shortages projected for much of the Mediterranean, Central Europe, China and Africa is a critical concern. “At this point, with climate change, we need to find new solutions to new problems,” said Nadim Khouri, IFAD’s Director Near East and North Africa Division.

Participants at another side event that focused on natural resource management in sub-Saharan Africa agreed on the importance of an integrated and participatory approach – from the village level to across national borders. They stressed that governments must build on the experiences of local farmers to ensure successful practices inform national policy.

The Governing Council was preceded by the third biennial Farmers’ Forum, where more than 70 farmers’ leaders, representing millions of smallholders and rural producers from all over the world, focused on how to strengthen their coordination in order to achieve greater food security.

“Effective and representative producer organizations can provide a powerful instrument to make rural people’s voices heard, particularly women, so that they can have greater influence over decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods,” said Jean-Philippe Audinet of IFAD.

Press release No.: IFAD/15/2010

---

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$11 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 350 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).