Brazilian government hosts African agricultural ministers for dialogue on food security in the Southern Hemisphere

Rome, 4 May 2010 – Over 50 African ministers of agriculture will gather in Brasilia at the invitation of the Brazilian government to discuss the future of food security in the Southern Hemisphere from 10-12 May. The Vice President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Yukiko Omura, will address the high-level attendees.

The conference, titled Brazil-Africa Dialogue, provides a unique opportunity for enhancing partnerships and increasing knowledge sharing between the regions, said Omura prior to leaving for the conference. She added that it is a sign of Brazil’s commitment to look for lasting solutions for food security in Africa.

“By engaging in dialogue, IFAD can help propel important discussions on rural poverty, making for fruitful partnerships, better institutions and best practices in rural development across the Southern Hemisphere,” said Omura. “This conference provides an excellent environment for us to learn from smallholder farmers, NGOs, government officials and private-sector representatives, and to use these lessons to build new partnerships, open new markets and share technologies across the region.”

The Brazilian Minister for External Relations, Celso Amorim, will open the conference. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is expected to deliver a keynote speech. The conference will include sessions on food security, emerging technologies and institutional cooperation.

At the conference, Omura will share examples from IFAD’s work in Africa and Brazil to highlight how smallholder farmers and grassroots organizations are working to build better lives for themselves. IFAD advocates for more investment in agriculture and is urging governments in developing countries to help transform smallholder farms into profitable businesses.

Immediately following the conference in Brasilia, Omura will visit the Rural Communities Development Project, an innovative IFAD-funded project in the North-East state of Bahia, where smallholder farmers are experimenting with a number of new techniques and technologies.

“This project targets the poorest rural municipalities of Bahia – an area where agricultural productivity is very limited,” said Josefina Stubbs, Director of IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division. “Being a semi-arid region, most smallholder farmers struggle to cultivate the land at a subsistence level and are forced to migrate to urban areas during the dry season. With this in mind, we are funding projects that aim to improve management of water resources and, of course, improve productivity and environmental stewardship.”

IFAD began its operations in Brazil in 1980. To date the organization has provided a total of US$77 million in loans for four programmes and projects, which have directly benefited over 45,000 families. The organization has one ongoing project with a $30 million loan, and three approved projects, with loans totalling $68 million. IFAD-funded projects focus on the semi-arid North-East region of the country, where the greatest concentration of rural poor people lives.

Notes to editors

IFAD officials available for interviews on 10 May 2010

• Yukiko Omura is a Japanese national and former Executive Vice President of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank. Omura has over 25 years of experience in international finance.
• Josefina Stubbs is a Dominican national who has spent 23 years working to promote the region’s economic and social development. For 16 years, she worked for the non-governmental organization, Oxfam International. Prior to joining IFAD in March 2008, she worked for the World Bank.
• Ides de Willebois is the Director of IFAD’s Eastern and Southern Africa Division. A Dutch national, de Willebois has been working in rural development for the past 25 years.
• Mohamed Beavogui is the Director of IFAD’s Western and Central Africa Division. Beavogui is from Guinea, and has over 25 years of experience in project and programme management.

Press release No.: IFAD/31/2010

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$12 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 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).