IFAD President calls for public-private partnership at Abuja High Level Conference on Agribusiness and Agro-industries

Rome, 5 March 2010 - On the eve of the Abuja High-level Conference on the Development of Agribusiness and Agro-industries in Africa, IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze urged strengthening public-private partnerships in Africa, stating, “Africa has the potential – both in terms of its human and natural resources – to lay the ground for a vibrant agricultural sector that can meet its own food and raw material needs as well as the needs of other regions of the world.”

African Heads of State or Government, Ministers, heads of United Nations agencies and leaders of multilateral organizations will gather at the high-level meeting in the Nigerian capital to address food insecurity, poverty, hunger and unemployment in Africa.

Some African countries such as Ghana and Malawi have recently shown relatively good economic performance. However, poverty, hunger and malnutrition remain high; and a growing youth population, predicted to be as high as 60% of the population by 2020, will pose additional challenges.

Emphasizing the need for critical focus on the young people who are the farmers of tomorrow, Nwanze said, “The real difference in the future of smallholder agriculture will be made by young people between the ages of 15 and 25 – the people who will be feeding the world tomorrow,” said Nwanze, “and our vision should aim at making farming profitable so that these young men and women are drawn to it.”

IFAD is committed to reducing rural poverty and recognizes the importance of agribusiness and agro-industry in helping smallholder farmers transform from subsistence farmers to small agribusiness entrepreneurs. Smallholder farmers are small-scale business owners and not just poor people who need handouts.

The private sector is an increasingly crucial ally to drive economic growth and to reduce poverty, especially in terms of strengthening infrastructure and ensuring better access to financial services. “We must adopt a broader approach of creating a vibrant rural economy by helping build the right business environment based on partnership between public and private sector while keeping people at the centre,” Nwanze concluded.

IFAD worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to organize the conference, in cooperation with the Government of Nigeria, the African Union and the African Development Bank.

---

Notes to Editors

Organic cocoa increases smallholder income

Under the Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme in late 2000, IFAD launched a three-year pilot project involving 500 farmers in 11 communities in São Tome and Principe. The project was designed to help the country’s cocoa farmers make the transition from producing medium-quality cocoa beans to high-quality dried cocoa. IFAD involved Kaoka, a French organic chocolate producer, to provide the farmers with technical advice and extension services. The project also assisted community associations in forming the Cooperative for Export and Market of Organic Cocoa to coordinate commercial activity. In 2005, the farmers formed an export cooperative and signed a five-year contract directly with Kaoka, guaranteeing them a stable minimum price along with a premium to be invested in social services benefiting local communities. In 2009, another contract was signed with CafeDirect UK that involves farmers in the east of the island providing fair trade cocoa to be used in the United Kingdom hot drinks industry. Smallholder families that participated in the programme saw their yearly income increase on average from a level of 25 per cent below the poverty line to 8 per cent above it.

Nigeria is a founding member of IFAD

The IFAD Community-based natural resource management programme in the Niger Delta aims to improve the standard of living and quality of life of rural poor people in the Niger Delta, especially for women and young people. A major concern is to reduce current tensions and conflict by improving employment opportunities for young people and channelling their energies into the development of sustainable livelihoods and natural resource management activities

Since 1985, IFAD has financed 9 programmes and projects with a total loan of US$187.5 million. All the programmes and projects have addressed the livelihood needs of rural poor people, including smallholders, rural small businesses, poor fishing communities, young people, landless people and women.

Over 2,000,000 Nigerian households are expected to benefit from IFAD programmes and projects.

The Government of Nigeria has invited IFAD to participate in its new Commercial Agriculture Development Programme, which aims to strengthen food security, increase employment opportunities and boost agriculture as an engine for broad-based economic growth in the country. The Fund is currently in discussions with the government about its possible role, which would focus on smallholder farmers and poverty reduction, in keeping with IFAD’s mission.

Press release No.: IFAD/19/2010

---

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).