IFAD News

IFAD President Urges G7 Investment in African Agriculture

IFAD President Alvaro Lario called on G7 Agriculture Ministers at their meeting in Syracuse, Italy on September 25, 2024, urging larger and more effective investments in small-scale agriculture across Africa. The President highlighted that small-scale farming supplies up to 70% of food in Africa and that economic growth in agriculture is two to three times more effective at reducing poverty and food insecurity than growth in other sectors. IFAD also announced that up to 60% of its core financing in the 2025-2027 project cycle will be invested in Africa.

IFAD Urges G20 Leaders to Invest in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development

IFAD President Alvaro Lario called on G20 leaders at the September 2024 G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting in Chapada dos Guimarães, Brazil, to provide targeted investments and effective public policies that foster prosperous rural economies and strengthen family farming and food systems. IFAD announced plans to invest $10 billion in rural people over three years, targeting family farmers, smallholders, indigenous peoples, and local communities in partnership with international financial institutions and development agencies. The call comes as family farming contributes 80% of the world's food by value while small-scale producers receive only 6.5 cents for every dollar's worth of food they produce.

IFAD President Urges World Leaders to Reform Global Financial Architecture

IFAD President Alvaro Lario urged world leaders at the UN Summit of the Future in New York on 20 September 2024 to demonstrate political determination to reform the global financial architecture, stating that a lack of resources is not the greatest barrier to addressing hunger and poverty but rather the political will to invest at the necessary scale. The address highlighted that 3 billion people live in rural areas and are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty and hunger, with small-scale farmers producing one-third of the world's food. Lario called for redirecting the US$630 billion that wealthy countries spend annually on subsidy policies toward climate adaptation and food systems transformation.