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UN agricultural development fund receives largest funding increase in two decades

UN agricultural development fund receives largest funding increase in two decades

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The Member States of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have set a $720 million target for resources replenishment, the largest amount for the agency since 1981.

The Member States of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have set a $720 million target for resources replenishment, the largest amount for the agency since 1981.

“This increase shows that our members recognize the crucial importance of rural development to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said the President of IFAD, Lennart Båge. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s poorest people, 800 million men, women and children, live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.

“If we are to achieve our commitment to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, we must focus on the rural areas of developing countries, where most poor people live,” he said, referring to an international target that is part of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The funding, which covers the period from 2007 to 2009, will allow IFAD to significantly increase its programme of work in developing countries, the agency said in a news release.

A specialized agency of the United Nations, IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries, especially low-income, food-deficit countries. It works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable poor rural people to improve their livelihoods sustainably and overcome poverty themselves.