Media Advisory no.: MA/09/08

23 September 2008 - IFAD Vice-President Kanayo F. Nwanze is due to address a high- level conference on Food Security at McGill University, on 24 September.

His comments come as world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York to assess progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and how this has been affected by rises in prices of foods and fuel.

As Vice-President of IFAD, a specialized UN agency mandated to help the rural poor, he is convinced that refocusing on agriculture and boosting production is fundamental to the battle against poverty.

During his term as Director-General of the African Rice Center (WARDA), Nwanze was a leading advocate for developing NERICA, a more resistant high-yield rice variety with higher protein count.

Agriculture is a vital force behind economic growth and while the world’s 500 million small farm holders are often efficient, they have great unleashed potential.   

While the increase in food prices has currently slowed, urgent action is needed now to meet future demand and these small farmers are crucial. The World Bank predicts that global demand for food will double by 20230. The only way to stop food prices from rising over the long term is to grow more food.

Boosting production means providing these small farm holders with access to credit that will let them buy fertiliser and equipment. Helping them out of subsistence farming into selling their excess on markets is a formidable catalyst for growth.

Mr Nwanze, a Nigerian national, speaks English and French.

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 IFAD was created 30 years ago to tackle rural poverty, a key consequence of the droughts and famines of the early 1970s. Since 1978, IFAD has invested more than US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have helped over 400 million very poor rural women and men increase their incomes and provide for their families. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency. It is a global partnership of OECD, OPEC and other developing countries. Today, IFAD supports more than 200 programmes and projects in 85 developing countries and one territory.