Korea-Africa Conference on Agricultural Cooperation, Opening Ceremony

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Excellencies, Distinguished guests,

Firstly, thank you to Her Excellency Song Mi-ryung, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea for organizing this event. IFAD is happy to be a partner to Korea in Africa – and closer to home.

IFAD is the International Fund for Agricultural Development – and the only development finance institution exclusively focused on transforming agriculture, food systems and rural economies. We are also a specialized agency of the United Nations, so we invest in long-term solutions for food security in developing countries.

Like all of you gathered here today, much of our focus is on the future of Africa, where we invest around two-thirds of our core resources.  

Like our hosts today, we understand the transformative power of the right technologies and innovations. In fact, Korea and IFAD have long been partners in ICT for rural transformation. In Cambodia, for example, with Korean funds, IFAD developed a mobile app called ‘Chamka’ to improve farmers’ information on production, markets and weather forecasting.

And through seed funding for our ICT for Development agenda, Korea has shown a commitment to the special potential of digital technologies in remote rural locations - where the majority of Africa’s youthful population lives.

IFAD projects are already driving innovations like precision farming, remote sensing, and mobile-based advisory services. And they are revolutionizing how farmers manage resources, make decisions, and adapt to climate change. The results include increased yields, reduced post-harvest losses, and improved food security.

In Ethiopia, IFAD-supported programs have seen a 25% increase in crop yields and a 20% increase in livestock productivity. In Nigeria, where projects focused on value addition like processing and meeting quality standards, we saw an increase in the market value of rice of around 40％.

And in Rwanda, we invested in solar-powered irrigation systems to sustainably improve production and sales of fruits and vegetables. For the farmers’ cooperatives we partnered with, this resulted in a tenfold increase in sales.

In the years ahead, we aim to reach even more people and communities throughout Africa.

And to deliver IFAD’s programme of work until 2027, our member states have pledged over 1.35 billion dollars - a record amount. We look forward to Korea’s upcoming pledge, which will enable us to do even more.

Dear Friends,

The world is changing fast. We need to change with it. And simply put: the more investment the more we can innovate to deliver for those who need us most.

As a global leader in green technologies and agricultural solutions, Korea is a natural partner for IFAD – especially now that we are both increasing our focus on Africa. Our partnership is key to our continued commitment to South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

I have been delighted to see Korea’s Green Revolution so quickly contributing to self-sufficiency by providing farmers with expertise and technology in rice production.

With Korea’s experience in the Green Revolution and IFAD’s decades working at grassroots level with farmers throughout Africa, we will achieve a lot together.

I look forward to hearing the outcomes of your discussions today. And I look forward to further developing our partnership for sustainable agriculture and food security in Africa and around the world.

Thank you.