Food insecurity and water issues will dominate talks with government

Rome, 25 June 2010 – Yukiko Omura, Vice-President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will meet Ali Mohammed Mujawar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Yemen during a four day visit to the country starting on Monday, 28 June.

Omura will meet with senior government officials, including Abdul Karim Al-Arhabi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Planning and International Cooperation; Numan Saher Al-Suhaibi, Minster for Finance; and Mansour Ahmed Al-Hawshabi, Minster for Agriculture and Irrigation. Her discussions in the capital, Sanaa, will focus on issues related to the country’s current food insecurity situation and its growing water scarcity problems and socio-economic strains resulting from internal violence.

Omura is also expected to meet with representatives of international cooperating institutions as well as Yemeni private sector partners. She will discuss progress achieved in the five on-going, IFAD-supported projects in the country, including a recently launched Economic Opportunities Programme (EOP). So far, IFAD has invested a total of US$206.3 million in 20 rural development projects worth a total of $635.5 million to the direct benefit of more than 573 thousand households.

At present, Yemen imports more than 85 per cent of its food consumption needs with a majority of the population struggling to cope with high food prices. About 46.6 per cent of the population lived on less than US$2 a day during the period 2000-2007. Therefore, IFAD and the Government of Yemen are working together and with other partners of the donor community to accelerate pro-poor development efforts that focus on increasing local food production for less reliance on food imports while increasing the incomes of small farmers. Such efforts aim to help poor rural people realize their own food security; contribute to that of their country; improve their incomes and livelihoods; and help combat water scarcity under the adverse effects of climate change.

IFAD’s strategy in Yemen also focuses on mobilizing resources in support of agricultural and rural development activities designed to assist the poorest farmers, entrepreneurs and rural women. A consistent theme has been institutional strengthening since weak institutional capacity has been recognized to be limiting project implementation.

During her visit to Yemen, Vice-President Omura will also participate in and co-chair with the Deputy Prime Minister, Al-Arhabi, a seminar on “Public-Private Partnership for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction” to be held in Sanaa on Wednesday, 30 June 2010. The seminar will be attended by public and private sector representatives and development partners involved in building partnerships under the IFAD supported EOP. The seminar will address, among others, issues related to the establishment of an Economic Opportunities Fund (EOF) under the IFAD-financed EOP. Omura is also expected to hold bilateral talks with leaders of the Al Amal Microfinance Bank, in which EOF will acquire 10 per cent equity participation.

Omura will also carry out a field visit to the sites of IFAD-financed Dhamar Participatory Rural Development Project in Dhamar Governorate south of Sanaa. During the field visit, Omura will tour the project’s various investment activities and meet with beneficiaries, community organizations, local authorities and project staff.

Press release No.: IFAD/43/2010

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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 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).