IFAD President to meet with senior leaders in Beijing: Food security and rural poverty on discussion agenda

Rome, 15 July 2011 - The President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo F. Nwanze,  will arrive in Beijing, China on 18 July to meet senior government officials. During his stay in the country, Nwanze will visit the IFAD-supported South Gansu Poverty Reduction Programme in the remote mountainous area of the middle-southern part of Gansu Province, home to some of the poorest segments of Chinese society. The objective of the programme is to increase the food security and incomes of the rural poor people, by increasing agricultural production and access to rural financial services, education and health.

More than 260,000 farmers, of which 56 per cent are women, from about 156,000 households in 840 villages are benefiting from this IFAD programme co-financed by the Government of China and the World Food Programme. As a result, the number of households under the poorest of the poor groups decreased by 14 per cent from 2006 to 2009. In addition, the percentage of chronic and acute malnutrition for children under 5 years of age decreased by more than 50 per cent, while the number of the households with access to safe drinking water increased by 8 per cent. In the programme area, 73 per cent of farmer households had increased grain production, and the number of hungry households decreased from 26 per cent to 10 per cent.  

This programme is a concrete example of collaboration between the Rome-based food and agricultural agencies and with the government of China to address poverty and food security issues in southern Gansu.

“The implementation of the programme is progressing rapidly and it is contributing concretely to improving the livelihoods of rural farm families living in the plateau of South Gansu,” said Sana Jatta, IFAD Country Programme Manager for China.  “Rural infrastructure, along with arable and range land improvement, has created the conditions for better and sustainable crop and livestock production. Rural financial services, and strengthened social and technical support for both women and men, are bringing much awaited relief in the lives of the impoverished families.”

While in the capital, the IFAD President is expected to meet the Minister of Finance Xie Xuren and senior officials of the National Development and Reform Commission. Nwanze will discuss the on-going rural development projects supported by IFAD in China and the broader partnership framework between the government and IFAD.

Discussions will include food security issues, the impact of the recent food price spikes on rural smallholder farmers – who are already grappling with climate change –  and on strategies for long-term investment in smallholder agriculture to reduce rural poverty. 

Before leaving China, Nwanze will address the 3rd IFAD-China joint South-South Cooperation Seminar (20-27 July 2011). The event, which will be attended by senior policy experts and agriculture ministers from 12 developing countries in Africa and Asia, is organized by China’s Ministry of Finance and IFAD to promote rural development and poverty reduction through knowledge sharing about the country’s successful development policies and initiatives and those of the participating countries.

Notes to editors

• In 1981 IFAD became the first international financial institution to provide funding for operations in China. Since then it has provided loans for 23 rural development programmes and projects for a total of over US$590 million. Most of the projects and programmes are located in China’s remote and mountainous regions, where large numbers of poor peoples are concentrated.

• More than 30 million people in 21 provinces in China have benefited from IFAD-financed programmes and projects.

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Press release No.: IFAD/49/2011

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 United Nation’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 166 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).