IFAD President issues Call to Action to Member States to “invest political, financial and human capital” in rural development

Rome, 19 February 2011 – Investing in the skills and talents of young rural women and men in developing countries is critical to the task of eradicating rural poverty and ensuring global food security, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told delegates to the Fund’s annual meeting, which opened this morning at its headquarters in Rome.

In his opening address, Kanayo F. Nwanze challenged developing country Member States with a Call to Action to “make tangible commitments to investment of political capital, of financial capital and in human capital at home to create the conditions for successful rural development.  Because change cannot be imposed from outside, it must be cultivated from within.”

Similarly, he called on the Fund’s donor country members and other partners to “recognize where countries have shown the commitment by supporting them with the right policies and investments.”

The 34th session of IFAD’s Governing Council, which runs through Sunday 20 February, has rural youth as the main focus.  In his remarks to the delegates, Nwanze noted that supporting young  women and men is critical to building vibrant rural economies, which in turn is key to overcoming  larger challenges such as reducing hunger and poverty, mitigating climate change, achieving energy security and protecting the environment.

“Current events show the energy, creativity and power of young people, and also the importance of ensuring that they can see a future for themselves in the societies in which they live,” said Nwanze.

Nwanze outlined a 140 per cent increase in the agency’s cofinancing agreements in 2010, and a record level of disbursements at US$457.6 million for the year.  He noted that there has been a “subtle but important change” in IFAD’s approach to agricultural development, which now takes into account greater opportunities for rural people to benefit from the emergence of modern, consolidated value chains for agricultural products.

“These new and evolving markets offer opportunities for poor rural people to generate more income than ever before, but only if they are able to offset the high entry costs,” he said.  “The first step is recognizing that farming of any scale is an economic activity, is a business.  And businesses need clear links along the value chain – from production to processing, marketing and consumption.”

In most developing countries, agriculture is already the leading provider of employment for people ages 15 to 24.  However, agriculture rarely provides a living wage and the sector is typified by low levels of productivity, dangerous work and lack of social protection.

Yet Nwanze noted that these same young rural people can lead the way to creating more vibrant rural economies, which in turn will reduce rural poverty and ensure global food security amid a growing global population.  He called for investing in rural youth and helping them become better and more successful farmers and business people.

“These young people are the next generation of farmers, producers and workers,” he said.  “Give them the skills and confidence they need to run profitable farms or start businesses, and they will become the upstanding citizens and community leaders of tomorrow.  Ignore them, and they will have little option but to leave their homes and families to search for work in the cities, seeking better lives but oftentimes finding only more misery.”

Nwanze said that IFAD is already taking steps aimed at generating the conditions for smallholder farmers and other poor rural people to profit from new and evolving markets.  These include advocating to reduce their transaction costs, supporting rural producers’ organizations, expanding financial services into rural areas and ensuring that smallholder farmers have access to infrastructure, utilities and information.

In recent years, he added, the agency has increased its level of success in mobilizing outside resources through cofinancing arrangements.  In 2010, for each dollar received from donor countries, IFAD mobilized another six dollars from partners for the rural development programmes it supports.  As a current example of innovative financial arrangements, Nwanze cited the new Spanish Food Security Cofinancing Facility Trust Fund, a partnership between IFAD and the Government of Spain that will make €300 million available to scale up IFAD’s support to small-scale farmers in developing countries.

He said IFAD is expanding efforts to involve private sector partners in its resource mobilization efforts “because we see responsible private sector engagement as an essential element in optimizing economic opportunities in rural areas.”

“We know that smallholder agriculture can lead economic growth in developing countries and lift millions out of poverty, but only if it is market-oriented, profitable and environmentally sustainable,” said Nwanze.

IFAD’s Governing Council meeting continues this afternoon with a plenary panel discussion, “Feeding future generations: Young rural people today – prosperous, productive farmers tomorrow”, moderated by former CNN International presenter Tumi Makgabo. Tomorrow’s agenda includes four regionally-focused panels exploring the challenges faced by rural young people and featuring agricultural and rural development experts, young entrepreneurs from rural areas and leaders of youth-based organizations.

• For more information on IFAD’s annual meeting and a detailed programme, please visit the website
• For images of IFAD’s work please visit the IFAD image bank.
• The IFAD social reporting team will report live from the Governing Council. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

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Press release No.: IFAD/10/2011

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$12.5 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 167 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).