TALKS BETWEEN UN AND IVORIAN OFFICIALS FOCUS ON FOOD SECURITY, RURAL POOR

Achieving national food security in Côte d'Ivoire and addressing the needs of the smallholder farmers and the rural poor were among the topics discussed during a visit by the head of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that wrapped up today.

Talks between Kanayo F. Nwanze and Ivorian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and other senior cofficials also focused on IFAD's support to the Government in dealing with high food prices and the country's post-conflict situation, as well as investment in agricultural development programmes.

Among the projects that IFAD is helping to finance in the West African nation is the Small Horticultural Producer Support Project, which seeks to boost rice production.

Begun in 2001, the initiative is IFAD's first thematic project focusing on small-scale irrigation related mostly to vegetable production and marketing in the region.

The Rome-based agency is also working with the Government on devising a project to strengthen rice, cassava and yam production among rural groups made vulnerable by the global food crisis.

During the two-day visit to Abidjan, Mr. Nwanze – who took up his post this past February – also looked at how to speed up the preparation of a country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP), a tool used to ensure that IFAD country operations produce a positive impact on poverty.

Designed through a process of wide consultations with a number of stakeholders, the COSOP reviews the specific rural poverty situation in a country, and is used for making strategic choices about IFAD operations in a country as well as identifying opportunities for IFAD financing.

Since 1984 IFAD has invested $66.7 million in seven programmes and projects in Côte d'Ivoire.
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UN WELCOMES US COMMITMENT TO BOOST AGRICULTURE IN POORER COUNTRIES

A senior United Nations official today welcomed United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent statements in Kenya as a clear signal that Washington is committed to boost sustainable agricultural development in the world's poorer countries as a way to root out global hunger and poverty.

Mrs. Clinton's comments, in which she called for more agricultural aid money to be spent in poorer countries, show a clear US resolve to act upon the $20-billion pledge for sustainable agricultural development made at last month's G8 summit of industrialized nations in L'Aquila, Italy, UN Fund for Agricultural Development (<"http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2009/37.htm">IFAD) President Kanayo F. Nwanze said in a news release.

"After the historic pledge of $20 billion for sustainable agriculture development, the world is eager to see concrete actions that will translate into improvements in the lives of poor people in developing countries. There is no time to lose," he declared.

"The initiative, as well as Secretary Clinton's remarks, reflects a shift in emphasis – from dependence on food aid to greater investment in agriculture as a key to eradicating poverty."

In a speech at the 8th Forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act in Nairobi, Mrs. Clinton noted that while past US assistance has yielded gains, "we have spent too many dollars and too many decades on efforts that have not delivered the desired long-term results," according to a State Department transcript.

"Too much money, for example, has stayed in America, paid salaries to Americans, furnished overhead to the contractors that were used. Too little has reached the intended target or contributed to lasting progress," she added.
Mr. Nwanze thanked Mrs. Clinton for keeping the global spotlight on agriculture and rural poverty. "Investing in agriculture – and in particular smallholder agriculture – is indeed the most cost-effective way of reducing poverty, saving and improving lives," he said.

The L'Aquila Food Security Initiative has been hailed as a major commitment to root out hunger and poverty, prompted mainly by the recognition that the global economic slowdown has pushed 90 million more people into extreme poverty.

"With a significant increase in the flow of external resources to agriculture, much will still depend on how these resources are spent; most importantly, whether higher commitments for agricultural development will trigger a matching response from developing countries by putting in place the right policy framework to support farmers," Mr. Nwanze said.

Rome-based 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, it has invested over $11 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 340 million people to break out of poverty.

UN FUNDS $15 MILLION AGRICULTURAL SCHEME HELPING THOUSANDS OF POOR IN EL SALVADOR

Extremely poor people living off the land in El Salvador are set to receive a major cash injection of almost $15 million from the United Nations rural development arm to help finance projects aimed at modernizing agricultural production.

The $14.98 million loan from the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will back an initiative in the central regions of El Salvador which helps transform subsistence agricultural and off-farm activities into profitable, rural businesses and micro-enterprises.

The project targets inhabitants of poor communities, landless farmers and agricultural labourers, rural women and youth, as well as owners of small businesses in the Central American nation.

The funding is expected to directly benefit some 33,000 people in marginalized communities with indigenous traditions, who will have access to financial services and receive specialized technical and business assistance to help them access local and external markets.

It also supports land management in selected micro-watersheds and the rehabilitation environmentally deteriorated areas.

The total cost of the programme is over $20 million over 18 years and to date, IFAD has funded eight rural development programmes and projects in El Salvador for more than $108 million.

The latest loan agreement was signed yesterday at IFAD headquarters in Rome by the Ambassador of El Salvador to Italy José Roberto Andino Salazar and IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze.
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