Poverty alleviation through rural and agricultural development

1. CARITAS WORKING GROUP MEETING FOR ANTI-POVERTY CAMPAIGN 16TH APRIL 2012 ROME Poverty alleviation through rural and agricultural development Rosemary Vargas-Lundius Senior Research Coordinator Office of Strategy and Knowledge Management, IFAD

2. IFAD at a glance • The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an IFI and a UN specialised agency, was established in 1977 as an outcome of the 1974 World Food Conference • IFAD’s mission is to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty • For more than 40 years, IFAD has been exclusively focused on rural and agricultural development. • We work with governments, providing low interest loans and grants • Since 1978, IFAD have invested US$13 billion in projects and programmes that have reached over 400 million poor rural people

3. Global poverty a massive and predominantly rural phenomenon • 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty • 70% of the developing world’s poor people are living in rural areas • 33 countries in the world still in a permanent state of food insecurity • In the Least Developed Countries, more than 350 million people live on less than $1.25 a day and nearly 80 % of them live in rural areas.

4. Agriculture and rural development at the heart of poverty alleviation • Growth generated by agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. • Profound changes in agricultural practices giving rise to new opportunities for the developing world’s smallholder farmers to significantly boost their productivity • Urgent need to invest more and better in agriculture and in rural areas. • Creating new opportunities for rural poverty reduction and economic growth requires a broad approach to rural development

5. IFAD’s Strategic Framework • Enhancing environmental sustainability and resilience in small-scale agriculture • Promoting win-win contractual arrangements to help small agricultural producers seize opportunities at lower risk in agricultural value chains • Supporting the development of technologies for sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture • Increasing the capacity of financial institutions to provide a broad range of inclusive services to poor rural people; • Promoting the capabilities of rural women and men, including young people and • Capitalizing on opportunities to use renewable energy sources at the farm and community levels, and promoting low-cost technologies using local resources to provide energy at the village level.

6. Rural development and empowerment of women • 43 % of agricultural labour force in the developing countries are women • Production on women’s farms could increase by 20 to 30 % if women had the same access as men to agricultural resources and inputs • Giving women equal access would reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100 to 150 million people • Studies show that when women earn money, they are more likely than men to spend it on food for the family

7. Addressing gender issues is central to IFAD's work • Improve results on the ground through better integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment into our strategic framework, country programmes, and monitoring and evaluation systems • Strengthen women's leadership and decision-making influence in agriculture and natural resource management at all levels • Lend our voice through our strategic communications and advocacy in favour of increased investment in rural women, for sustainable agricultural development and food security • Increase our own investment in technology development and capacity strengthening for gender equality and rural women’s empowerment through our grants programmes.

8. Rural development and youth • Over 1.2 billion young persons (15-24 years of age) in the world today • More than 85 % are born in developing countries, where around half of the total population lives in rural areas • Youth, the future leaders, entrepreneurs and farmers • Rural youth facing constraints in accessing quality education and training, financial assets and land • IFAD supporting vocational training for young people, both in on-farm and non-farm activities.

9. The way forward ....

10. Investing in smallholder farmers • Need for 70 % increase in global food supply by 2050 to meet demand from more than 9 billion people • Smallholder farmers can play a central role in a global food security agenda • 500 million small farms in the developing world, i.e. 97 % of agricultural holdings, supporting around 2 billion people • Smallholder farmers feed up to 80 % of the population in much of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere • IFAD doing its part: invested more than US$13 enabling approximately 400 million poor rural people to grow and sell more food, increase their income and wellbeing.

11. Promoting climate smart agriculture • Environment and agriculture are tightly bound together, and one cannot be addressed without the other • Need of a new Green Revolution: approach tailored to local communities, climatic conditions and ecosystems • Mix of traditional and new technologies • Low-input, high-output, pro-poor technologies • IFAD is working to scale-up climate-smart practices

12. Building Partnerships • Need for establishing effective partnerships • IFAD closely working with developing country governments, poor rural people’s organizations, NGOs, and research institutions • Expanding partnerships with the private sector

13. To conclude.... • Agricultural and rural development is not just about food security • It is the pathway to economic growth and social cohesion • Smallholder agriculture is central to the solution for achieving global food security and eradicating poverty and hunger • We need to act now!

14. THANK YOU!