Landmark study includes statistics, policy recommendations, perspectives from rural people themselves

Rome, 24 November 2010 – What are the rural poverty rates in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East?  Are they rising or falling?  How many of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas? And what are the implications for global food security?

These questions and more will be answered by a major report on the state of rural poverty to be unveiled by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency, at a Chatham House international conference on food security in London on 6 December 2010.

The Rural Poverty Report 2011 – New realities, new challenges: new opportunities for tomorrow’s generation – includes IFAD’s latest estimates on poverty rates in rural areas of developing countries, as well as poverty trends in each region. The report also contains new information on how many people move in and out of poverty over time, as well as first-hand accounts from poor rural people on the challenges they face in their everyday lives. 

WHAT:	Launch of the Rural Poverty Report 2011 – New realities, new challenges: new opportunities for tomorrow’s generation
WHO:	Kanayo F. Nwanze, President, IFAD
WHEN:	6 December 2010 09:30 GMT – Presentation and Panel Discussion 11:00 GMT – Press Conference
WHERE:	Chatham House 10 St James's Square London SW1Y 4LE
ONLINE:	www.ifad.org/rpr2011

 

At a time when poor rural people in developing countries face escalating risks related to natural resource constraints, climate change and volatile food prices, the Rural Poverty Report 2011 provides a comprehensive look at rural poverty’s global consequences and points to emerging opportunities for rural growth and development.

The Report places special emphasis on challenges and risks faced by smallholder farmers and rural businesses and workers, and how – with the right policies and investments in place – they can find a route out of poverty. The Report also calls attention to the linkages between reducing rural poverty and meeting global food security challenges, particularly the need to raise global food production by 70 per cent by 2050 – and to double output in developing countries – in order to feed the projected population of 9 billion.

Journalists seeking accreditation to the London event are requested to contact Jessica Thomas by 1 December 2010 at ifadnewsroom@ifad.org.  

More information on the Rural Poverty Report 2011 and on how to receive a copy is available on the RPR2011 website

Further details on the Chatham House conference, Food Security 2010 – Making Food Security Work: Matching Supply to Demand, can be found on the Chatham House website.

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Media Advisory No.: IFAD/05/2010

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 360 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).