Azernews.Az

Kanayo Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will attend the 35th Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Board of Governors to be held in Baku from June 23-24. He will deliver a keynote address at the Bank’s 21st Annual Symposium on "Achieving food security in member countries in post-crises world", according to the UN office in Azerbaijan.
During his stay in Baku, Nwanze is expected to hold meetings with President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada and Minister of Agriculture Ismat Abbasov. Their discussions will focus on strategies for long-term investment in smallholder agriculture to reduce rural poverty and increase food productivity. They will also look at ways to further strengthen the partnership between IFAD and Azerbaijan.
To date, IFAD has supported four projects and programs in Azerbaijan, with a total investment of $48.1 million. Nearly 40,000 households, representing some of the most disadvantaged groups and women in rural areas of the country, are benefiting from the projects and programs. Another rural development project worth about $100 million is under preparation jointly with the IsDB.
On the eve of his departure for Baku, Nwanze said: "Food security is the number one challenge facing humanity today and it will remain so for the foreseeable future." He added that "global food security was thrust back to the top of the international agenda when the food crisis erupted in 2007 and 2008. Although the financial crisis may have overtaken the headlines, the food crisis had not gone away. The number of hungry people in the world is now at a record high of over 1 billion, and food prices are set to remain volatile."
"To boost agricultural productivity, strengthen food security and create dynamic rural economies, ramping up investment in agriculture is crucial. My visit to Baku is also to demonstrate the will of IFAD to work together with the IsDB and other partners to eradicate poverty and boost agricultural productivity in developing countries", he said.
"Smallholder farmers produce 80 per cent of the food consumed in the developing world and feed one third of the global population. By supporting them to produce more food, we can both improve the availability of food and increase their incomes," Nwanze concluded.
IFAD, an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome, 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 $12 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 370 million people to break out of poverty.*