Media backgrounder MB/01/08

Presidents of Ghana and Cameroon to address IFAD Governing Council

Rome, 4 February 2008 - Delegates from 164 nations convene in Rome on 13 and 14 February for the annual Governing Council (GC) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The 2008 GC marks IFAD’s thirtieth anniversary. It comes at a time when climate change and rising global commodity prices present urgent new challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in the developing world.  IFAD, an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency for rural development, was founded following the food crisis of the mid-1970s.

The Minister for Agriculture of Saudi Arabia, Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim, will also address the meeting on behalf of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. 

The GC is IFAD’s highest decision-making authority and serves as a forum for international discussion on the most pressing issues in rural development in poor countries. The two-day GC will be held at the Palazzo dei Congressi, Piazza John Kennedy, 00144, Rome.

On 14 February, the GC will also host three roundtables with expert panellists from around the world. The themes of the roundtables are climate change, the expansion of biofuels and rising commodity prices (see below).

The GC will be preceded on 11-12 February by the biennial global consultation of the “Farmers’ Forum”. Farmers’ leaders representing millions of smallholders across the world from Nepal to Namibia will take part. The venue of the Farmers’ Forum will be the same as the one for the GC.

2007 IFAD loans and grants reach all-time high of US$597.4 million

In 2007 IFAD approved a record amount of new loans and grants totalling US$597.4 million, compared to US$556.8 million in 2006. Disbursements of loans already approved increased to US$398.7 million, from US$386.9 million. External funding for IFAD-supported projects nearly quadrupled to US$427.4 million in 2007, compared to US$108.3 million a year earlier.

At the end of the year, IFAD was investing US$3.2 billion in a total of 198 ongoing programmes and projects in 80 countries and one territory.

In December, the Executive Board approved IFAD’s proposed programme of work for 2008 for a total of US$650.0 million, a 10 per cent increase from that of 2007.

Western and Central Africa: Cape Verde and Ghana to reach MDG anti-poverty target

About 80 per cent of the Western and Central African population live on less than two dollars (US) a day, and about 50 per cent on less than one dollar. Despite positive trends in the region, only Cape Verde and Ghana are likely to reach the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.

Seventy per cent of poor Western and Central Africans live in rural areas, which is why agriculture must be the main driver for economic improvements in the region.

At the end of 2007, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 45 programmes and projects in 18 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$578.6 million.

Eastern and Southern Africa: Mozambique and Tanzania to reach MDG anti-poverty goal

Whilst there is economic growth in most of the region, only Mozambique and Tanzania particularly are expected to grow by seven per cent in 2007, the level required in Africa to realize the MDGs.
The proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day is declining marginally, but the absolute number of extremely poor people continues to rise.
About 70 per cent of the region’s population, around 230 million people, live in rural areas and more than half of them live on less than one dollar per day.

At the end of 2007, IFAD’s ongoing portfolio for the region consisted of 43 programmes and projects in 15 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$694.3 million.

Asia and the Pacific: strong economic growth in some countries

Strong economic growth in Asia continued in 2007, with high growth rates for many developing countries in the region. The Vietnamese economy, for example, expanded 7.4 per cent in 2007 according to the International Monetary Fund.
However, the region is still hampered by natural disasters, livestock diseases, such as avian flu and an increasing income gap between rich and poor.

There is a wide economic disparity between IFAD borrowers in the region. Soon, some economies may have grown sufficiently that they could cease to qualify for IFAD’s lowest-level lending rates. Others –such as Afghanistan and Cambodia – are eligible for 100 per cent grant financing under IFAD’s newly adopted Debt Sustainability Framework.

At the end of 2007, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 44 programmes and projects in 15 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$891.5 million.

Latin America and the Caribbean: part of the region on track to meet MDGs

Despite continued rapid economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, poverty persisted at high levels during 2007, particularly in rural areas where poverty rates are about 54 per cent. Income inequality in the region remains among the highest in the world.

The region as a whole is on track to meet the first MDG target. But some countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay, look set to fall short.

Most borrowers in the region are middle-income countries, eligible for IFAD loans on ordinary and intermediate terms.

IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio at year end consisted of 28 programmes and projects in 17 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$502.7 million.

Near East and North Africa and Central and Eastern Europe: search for better water use and new trade links 

In the Near East and North Africa region, high levels of youth unemployment are a major concern. Making agriculture less water intensive in one of the driest areas in the world is also a priority.

Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States countries face the difficult tasks of reforming their financial sectors, developing new trade links and building effective institutions.

By the end of 2007, IFAD’s portfolio for the two regions consisted of 38 ongoing programmes and projects in 16 countries and one territory with a total IFAD investment of US$550.5 million.

IFAD Governing Council roundtables

Roundtable 1: Climate change and the future of smallholder agriculture. How can the rural poor people be a part of the solution to climate change?

Chair: Paolo Cento, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Italian Republic, and Governor of IFAD for Italy. Moderator: Francesco Nicola Tubiello, Research Scientist, Columbia University

Panellists:   

• Saleemul Huq, Director, Climate Change Group,   International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
•  Alexander Muller, Assistant Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, Chair, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
• Representative from the Farmers’ Forum 

Roundtable 2: Biofuel expansion. Challenges, risks and opportunities for rural poor people.

Chair: M.S Swaminathan, founder of the M.S Swaminathan Research Foundation. Moderator: Eric Kueneman, Service Chief, Crop and Grassland Service, FAO

Panellists:

• Peter Hazell, Visiting Professor, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College
• Jeff Tschirley, Environment, Climate Change and Bio-energy Division, FAO
• William Dar, Director-General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
• B.S. Chaware, Managing Director, Happy India (smallholder biofuel company)

Roundtable 3: Growing demand on agriculture and rising prices of commodities. An opportunity for smallholders in low-income, agricultural-based countries?

Chair: Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, Director-General, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). Moderator: Gunilla Olsson, Executive Director of the Action Plan, IFAD

Panellists:

• Hafez Ghanem, Assistant Director-General, FAO
• Bruno Losch, Senior Economist, World Bank/CIRAD
• Ibrahim Assane Mayaki Executive Director of the Hub, an organization for rural advancement in West Africa
• Representative from the Farmers’ Forum

The roundtable sessions will begin at 10:30 and end at 13:00.

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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 almost US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have helped more than 300 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 84 developing countries.