Hillary Clinton: Liberate the economic potential of rural women to fight hunger and poverty

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been speaking out about gender equality in the international arena since at least 1995, when she delivered a forceful message on women’s rights as human rights at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. So it was no surprise that the rights of rural women figured prominently in her remarks last week at the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security.

Webcast image of Hillary Clinton speaking at 18 May
symposium in Washington, DC.

Organized by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and held in Washington, DC, the symposium preceded this year’s G8 summit of world leaders. It provided a forum for high-level discussions of sustainable agricultural development and the setting for President Barack Obama’s announcement of a G8 initiative – the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition – which aims to reduce hunger and lift 50 million rural people out of poverty in the next decade. 

Secretary Clinton’s speech at the event covered a range of issues on investing in global agriculture to solve the problems of malnutrition and extreme poverty. Perhaps its most passionate section dealt with the largely untapped potential of rural women to help feed the world, a topic that is also central to IFAD’s recently adopted gender policy. Excerpts from the Clinton speech follow.


I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that I am convinced women are critical to our success in every field of endeavour. And this is not a matter of sentiment or personal interest on my part. This is also actually a fact-based, evidence-based statement. It has been said that the modern face of hunger is often a woman’s face, because in many parts of the world, women still eat last and eat least.

The face of a farmer is often a woman’s face as well. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, women comprise nearly half of the agricultural workforce across Africa. So if we want to support farmers, we also have to support women farmers. And that is not something that happens automatically. It has to be part of a deliberate, determined strategy that takes gender equality into account across everything we are doing.

And the results speak for themselves. The FAO estimates that if women farmers had the same access to productive resources as men – seeds, credit, insurance, land title, and so on – they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 per cent. And that, in turn, could raise total agricultural output so much it could reduce the number of hungry people worldwide by up to 150 million.

Now the obstacles that stand in the way of women’s equal access to resources in agriculture or anything else are, unfortunately, formidable. They include laws, deeply held traditions, lack of information, plain old inertia, and we have to overcome each and every one of them. We can’t just hope that women get the support they need as a side effect of our work. We have to push for it. And it’s not optional. It’s not marginal. It’s not a luxury. It’s not expendable. It happens to be essential, or we will never reach our goals….

When we liberate the economic potential of women, we elevate the economic performance of communities, nations and the world.

‘No empty promises’ at pre-G8 symposium on advancing food security

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze is in impressive company today at a high-level symposium on agricultural development and food security. Held in Washington, DC, and organized by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the all-day session takes place in connection with this year’s G8 summit of world leaders.

Planting maize seeds in Mswagini village, Tanzania.
©IFAD/Mwanzo Millingan

Like the summit itself – which President Barack Obama will host tomorrow at Camp David – the symposium is taking a serious and long overdue look at how the G8 nations can most effectively advance food and nutrition security in the developing world.

Among the other participants in the event are President Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Presidents of Benin, Ghana and Tanzania, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the Administrator of USAID, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, the pop star and activist Bono, and many more.

Their presence reflects a growing international consensus that, as Nwanze said today, “food security is the foundation for global security.”

New Alliance for sustainability
In a keynote speech at the symposium this morning, Obama echoed that sentiment. “Food security is a moral imperative, but it’s also an economic imperative…and it’s a security imperative,” he said. “Reducing hunger and malnutrition around the world enhances peace and security.”

Obama went on to announce a G8 initiative, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which he called “a major new partnership to reduce hunger and lift tens of millions of people from poverty.”

Rather than relying inordinately upon emergency aid to address cyclical crises, Obama said, the alliance will honour the commitments to global food security that the G8 made at their 2009 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy. Beyond those commitments, the G8 governments and their partners will also launch substantial new programmes in support of sustainable agriculture, with a special focus on Africa.

“No empty promises,” Obama said, adding that the New Alliance will begin with projects in Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania – “but this is just the beginning.” Over the next decade, the initiative aims to help 50 million rural people overcome poverty.

Africa’s potential
IFAD, WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization welcomed the launch of the New Alliance, and the Rome-based UN agencies will remain engaged in its rollout. At a symposium panel on trade and food security, IFAD’s Nwanze shared his thoughts on the need for such an undertaking, especially in many African nations.

“Africa is the last frontier,” Nwanze said, explaining that the continent holds greater potential for agricultural development than any other region – if only because it has under-produced for so long. To realize that potential and compete internationally, he said, Africa’s smallholder farmers need “sound, vibrant and sustainable domestic markets.” Strong domestic markets, in turn, hinge upon adequate infrastructure, technology, innovation and investment.

The New Alliance is slated to be active in all of these areas.

‘An enabling environment’
Of course, small-scale farmers are, themselves, central to the agricultural private sector. As rural entrepreneurs, they must be full partners in any effort to make a mass transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture.

Therefore, Nwanze said today, “we need to have strong farmer organizations. Where farmers are organized, particularly women farmers, they begin to thrive.” By creating “an enabling environment for smallholders,” he concluded, the partners in the New Alliance can bring lasting, positive change to rural Africa and beyond.

As the G8 leaders grapple with a host of thorny economic and political issues at their summit this weekend, let’s hope they remain focused on the imperative to end hunger and food insecurity worldwide. To do anything less, as the US President so aptly put it, would be “an affront to who we are.”


Below: Watch an IFAD video on increasing  food security in African countries based on increased private sector investments in agriculture, in line with the current G8 agenda.

Scaling up the fight against poverty and hunger in Africa #globalag

By José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) 

Agriculture is a powerful tool for reducing poverty and hunger. Events of recent years – such as food price increases, droughts, growing climate change impacts and other emergencies – have put agriculture high on the international agenda. We should be clear that agriculture is the solution. Economic growth generated by agriculture is more than twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. Agricultural development is also an effective means of assisting developing countries in building capacity and infrastructure as well as introducing innovation and technology.

Future food and nutrition security and the eradication of poverty will be profoundly influenced by the steps we take today to support the 2 billion people in developing countries who depend on small-scale farms, herding, fishing and other forms of agriculture.

The past year has seen a food security crisis in the Horn of Africa and a developing emergency in the Sahel region of West Africa, where we are just entering the peak hunger season. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme have responded in a variety of ways, from immediate humanitarian relief to building the capacity of smallholders to grow more food, increase their livelihoods and feed their families and communities.

But it is clear that much more needs to be done at every level. Far-reaching partnerships, broader consultation in the formulation and implementation of country-led development processes, as well as long-term commitments, must be made and maintained. In order for development efforts to be successful, is essential to have the participation of civil society, farmers’ organizations and the private sector at every stage.

Beginning with the L’Aquila summit three years ago, the G8 has led a serious and sustained process to mobilize support for greater aid to food and nutrition security. At the L’Aquila Summit, US$22 billion was pledged over three years. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) trust fund that emerged from the L’Aquila commitments is a new vehicle to ensure accountability in the implementation process for aid for food security and agriculture to some of the poorest countries in the world.

This financial commitment to support country-owned plans can help to make a big difference, but official development assistance alone has not and will not solve the problem. A favourable climate for investment must be created to attract other resources and partners in the framework of established development plans.
For example, in Africa, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), with its national compacts and investment plans, provides a key platform for public and private efforts  to converge towards agricultural development and food security.

Governments are primarily responsible for providing public goods and services that underpin and facilitate private investment, as well as the governance mechanisms that ensure socially and environmentally sustainable benefits from private investment. Farmers and their organizations must also be supported to benefit from increased investments, and they must be engaged from the outset in real, meaningful partnerships from public policy and programme design onward through evaluation.

Private sector investment, particularly through small- and medium-sized enterprises, is a critical factor for reaching the goal of a hunger-free Africa. However, the quality of this investment is of key importance. In this regard, Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, in the Context of National Food Security were endorsed earlier this month by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). Implementing these guidelines, which have been agreed upon by governments, civil society and the private sector, will help ensure that responsible governance of tenure contributes to responsible investment, enabling sustainable social, economic and environmental development around agriculture and towards food security.

The United Nations Rome-based agencies welcome the G8’s renewed commitment to keep food security high on the global agenda and the creation of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
The New Alliance complements ongoing activities and processes, starting from the CAADP itself, and is a tool that can accelerate progress in eradicating hunger and poverty in Africa. These efforts can and will succeed if they support smallholder production and market integration. This includes ensuring that technologies and inputs are adapted to local conditions, and promoting environmentally and socially sustainable farming practices to boost local economies. Stakeholders at the national and local level must drive and own the process from the start.

The New Alliance should avail itself of the opportunities to build upon, and further foster, truly participatory processes involving the G8, African countries, and the private sector, including first and foremost agricultural producers. In this way, it will respond to the needs of rural families and communities, and to the broader needs of African societies.

At the same time, we need to ensure that environmental sustainability is squarely addressed in the type of agricultural investments that are promoted, and that safety nets are in place and emergency preparedness is sustained to protect vulnerable people from the consequences of drought and other shocks.

Together, our agencies have been working with national governments, non-governmental organisations and civil society to help build resilience in developing countries. This includes targeted productive safety nets, such as school meal programmes, and other efforts that ensure that when the next disaster occurs, poor people are better equipped to feed themselves and protect assets such as livestock and property.

We welcome that the New Alliance is promoting a set of enabling tools related to markets and finance, risk and insurance, and science and technology, that can address gaps and strengthen smallholders’ position in the value chain.

We would, however, like to draw particular attention to the need to support women’s empowerment. Women make up nearly half of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa but face disproportionate barriers in access to resources and markets. The New Alliance must also address the aspirations of rural youth, who are key to long-term sustainability and the viability of rural agricultural communities.

Ending hunger and achieving food and nutrition security for the people of Africa is a pressing issue that cannot wait. Smallholders and rural people, who face the daily threat of food insecurity, urgently require access to science, technology and the most basic tools and services that would allow them to invest in their farms and businesses. With these benefits and a renewed commitment across all sectors we have an opportunity to reduce poverty, solve hunger and strengthen food security.

Cross-posted on Food for Thought blog

President Obama keynote address

G8 Summit: Putting food on the table through investing in small farmers #globalag

by Prof. Andrea Riccardi, Minister for International Cooperation and Integration Policies of the Italian Republic and Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD

Italy has long stressed the importance of tackling poverty and hunger and today it is host to the three major U.N .food agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

It was in Italy, at the L'Aquila G8 summit in 2009, that food security and agricultural development were finally put back at the top of the international agenda after decades of neglect during which governments and the international community turned their attention away from agriculture. Now we must make sure that they now stay at the top of the agenda, and that the commitments made at L'Aquila are fulfilled.

Investing in agriculture in developing countries is the single most effective method of improving food security for the world's poorest people while also stimulating economic growth. Growth generated by agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. And there is evidence that every dollar spent on agricultural research produces $9 worth of additional food in developing countries.

More than 95 percent of agricultural holdings in developing countries are less than 10 hectares, and in sub-Saharan Africa about 80 per cent of farmland belongs to, or is cultivated by, smallholders. And experience in developing countries repeatedly shows -- in Burkina Faso, China, Ethiopia, India, Thailand, Viet Nam and elsewhere -- that smallholders can lead agricultural growth.

In many countries we have seen how successful small and medium-sized farms can transform rural landscapes into vibrant economies, resulting in local demand for locally produced goods and services that also spur non-farm employment in services, agro-processing and small-scale manufacturing. This demand, in turn, leads to a dynamic flow of economic benefits, and the cultivation of new relationships between rural and urban areas.

In order for these small farms to thrive -- and to help lead the way to a more successful, profitable agricultural sector -- smallholder farmers need better linkages and access to markets, technology and information. They need mechanisms to manage the inherent risks of farming, particularly at a time of exceptionally volatile weather and prices. They need domestic and international investment in rural areas that is sustainable -- economically, environmentally and socially. This includes significant improvements in basic infrastructure and services, access to water, and better governance. They need legal empowerment and protection of their rights to the land they farm. And they need support in forming farmers' organizations and co-operatives to give them more bargaining power.

When rural small farmers are connected to markets they can sell more and better-quality food at higher prices, eat a more diversified diet, and improve household food and nutrition security. With increased income they can pay for essential medicines, send their children to school and improve their lives. Gender equality is important here as well: we know that giving women equal access to agricultural resources and inputs is one of the most powerful ways of reducing poverty and hunger.

Recognizing small farmers and their organizations as primary stakeholders in development means more than paying lip service to them in global meetings. Truly acting upon this recognition requires genuine collaboration and inclusive processes, which cannot be an afterthought but need to start from the very design of responsible investments in agriculture.

We have high hopes that this year's G8 meeting will lead to tangible support for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. As the current crisis of hunger and malnutrition in the Sahel shows, we cannot wait. We must act decisively and we must act now. It is our responsibility to make this investment now, for the sake of future generations.

Originally posted on Huffington Post and Italian version in Il Sole 24 Ore

Watch an interview with Minister Riccardi on the occasion of IFAD's 2012 Governing Council (In Italian)




What can G8 leaders do differently to ensure food security: An interview with IFAD President

by Prof. Andrea Riccardi is Minister for International Cooperation and Integration Policies of the Italian Republic and Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze is President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome.

What can G8 leaders do differently to ensure food security #globalag

Tomorrow IFAD President, Dr Kanayo Nwanze will be leaving for the States to attend the symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security - Advancing food and nutrition security at the 2012 G8 Summit.

The symposium takes place on the eve of 2012 G8 Summit and brings together senior global leaders to discuss new G8 efforts on food security and the opportunity and benefits of private sector investment in African agriculture and food sectors.

There is already quite a bit of buzz on social media about this event (#globalag), and everyone is looking forward to the live webstreaming and keynote addresses by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

IFAD President will be participating in a panel discussion on "Farm futures: Increasing trade to drive economic growth".

Earlier this afternoon, IFAD social reporting team met with the President and asked Dr Nwanze to share his views on the progress made since the G8 summit at l'Aquila and what he would like the G8 leaders to do differently.

It was heartening to hear that the glass is half full and that there is a renewed emphasis and commitment to the l'Aquila Food Security Initiative. "Food security is fundamental for global political stability", said Nwanze.  

Those of you following IFAD social reporting blog are familiar with the President's contributions and probably are not surprised hearing him ask the world leaders gathered for the G8 summit:

• not to make new commitments and not to make new declarations
• rather, look at what has worked in the previous initiatives and reinforce their commitments and put in additional resources
• to bring private sector into African agriculture focusing on domestic indigenous private sector
• to call upon developing countries to demonstrate political commitment 

We can only hope that these messages will be heard, endorsed and put to practice by the world leaders gathered for the 2012 G8 Summit.

What are you expectations from 2012 G8 Summit? Share your ideas and views. Do not miss the live webcasting and follow the conversation on Twitter #globalag

Why the farmer should be put first

by Kanayo F Nwanze, IFAD President

Sustainable investment in agriculture is the most effective way to reduce rural poverty, improve food security and stimulate economic growth

Planting maize seeds in Mswagini village,
Arusha Region, Tanzania.

In recent years, agriculture has gone from obscurity to having a central spot on the G8 agenda. For those  working in rural development, this revival of international attention is very welcome, as is the recognition of an increased role for private sector investment.

Private investment in agriculture usually suggests the involvement of large organisations. But, cumulatively, smallholders are significant investors in this sector. There are around 500 million small farms in the world. More than 95 per cent of agricultural holdings in developing countries are less than 10 hectares. In Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa, about 80 per cent of farmland belongs to, or is cultivated by, smallholders. Around two billion people depend on these farms for their livelihood.

Smallholders invest not only their own money, but also their time and labour in their farms. Therefore, it is fair to say that they are the primary on-farm investors in agriculture in developing countries. New investments in agriculture must be sensitive to the requirements of smallholders if they are to achieve the desired result of improving global food security and reducing poverty.

The power of smallholdersInvesting in agriculture in developing countries is the single most effective method of improving food security for the world’s poorest people, while also stimulating economic growth. Growth generated by agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. Experience repeatedly shows – in countries such as Burkina Faso, China, Ghana, India, Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere – that smallholders can lead agricultural growth.

Successful small farms can transform destitute rural landscapes into vibrant economies, resulting in local demand for locally produced goods and services that also spur non-farm employment in services, agro-processing and small-scale manufacturing. This demand, in turn, leads to a dynamic flow of economic benefits between rural and urban areas so that countries have balanced and sustained growth.

There are sound economic reasons for supporting smallholder farming. Farming production systems have few economies of scale. Small farms are often more productive, per hectare, than large farms when agro-ecological conditions and access to technology are comparable. In India, for example, smallholders contribute more than 50 per cent of total farm output, even though they cultivate only 44 per cent of the land.

New investments must be sustainable – economically, environmentally and socially

One reason for this high productivity rate is that small farmers have a strong personal incentive to get the most out of their land and from their own family labour. Another reason is that family farms have
very low management costs and are labour intensive, while larger farms are often heavily
mechanised or have high costs involved in managing the workforce.

Nevertheless, in many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, poor farmers do not produce enough to feed themselves and their families. Instead, they are net buyers of food
and, with incomes of less than $1.25 per day, they cannot afford to buy much.


If the goals in investing in agriculture are to improve the food security of those who are hungry and to improve the economies of developing countries, then the aim should be to transform smallholder agriculture into successful businesses that are profitable and generate surpluses, and that can help provide
career opportunities and a potential pathway out of poverty and hunger.

Targeting the investment
When one talks about farmers in developing countries, one is often talking about women. On average, women make up 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. In East and Southeast Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa, this figure rises to almost 50 per cent. In investing in rural areas, the capacity of women farmers to invest more effectively and with less risk must be supported, given that women in rural societies face greater constraints. Rural women usually have more limited land tenure, less access to credit and equipment, and fewer market opportunities than have men.

New investments must also be sustainable – economically, environmentally and socially – so that the benefits last, through the years and the generations. Anyone who has travelled into the rural areas of developing countries will have seen the aftermath of unsustainable development: broken tractors abandoned in fields, withered and untended trees, forsaken hillside terraces. This is the residue of development efforts that did not respect and respond to local conditions, whether cultural or environmental, and that did not work with the local community from the start.

Similarly, the Green Revolution that transformed Asian agriculture in the 1970s focused on reducing the number of crops and increasing reliance on improved seeds, fertilisers and better irrigation. It produced
remarkable short-term gains, but came at a cost to the environment and to local species.

In the years since the Asian Green Revolution it has become clear that agricultural growth must be ecologically sustainable and that a diverse range of species, genetic variation and ecosystems is necessary
in order for the land to be able to provide for future generations of farmers.

Indeed, in many developing countries, simply optimising conventional approaches, such as the simple use of fertilisers and micro-irrigation, could yield dramatic results. Only about six per cent of the total cultivated
land in Africa is irrigated, compared to 37 per cent in Asia. Irrigation alone could increase output by up to 50 per cent in Africa. Small increases in fertiliser use could also yield dramatic improvements in yields
without risk to the environment, since farmers in sub-Saharan Africa use, on average, less than 13kg of fertiliser per hectare. This compares with 73kg in the Middle East and North Africa, and 190kg in East Asia and the Pacific.

There is also a critical need to develop national and regional markets, to ensure that productivity gains from new investments have the intended economic impact on developing-country economies. Similarly, there is an urgent need to invest in basic rural infrastructure. Today, about 30 per cent of the food produced is wasted, largely as a result of the absence of such basic necessities as markets, warehouses and paved roads.

Community-driven development
At IFAD, we see time and time again the transformation that occurs when development is sustainable and when local people are involved from the start. Last year, I visited Zongbega, a village in a drought-prone region of Burkina Faso, where smallholders are using simple water-harvesting techniques such as planting pits and permeable rock dams, along with crop-livestock integration. As a result, they have restored land that was once degraded and have increased their productivity. In Niger, a water-harvesting project in the Illela department is still going, more than 15 years after the funding ended – a fine example of the benefits of community-driven development.

In recent years, we have been scaling up what we know works, strengthening value chains, extending rural finance and creating new market opportunities for smallholders and other poor rural people. This year, as
world leaders meet for the G8 in May and the G20 and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio in June, there is an unprecedented opportunity to solidify the role of public-private partnerships in support of agriculture. I hope their deliberations will take into account the biggest on-farm agriculture investors in developing countries: smallholder farmers.

Originally published by Munk School of Global Affairs

Reaching food security means reaching out to smallholders

By Kanayo F. Nwanze, IFAD President

Agriculture is at the centre of a nexus of pressing issues - poverty, hunger, climate change, environmental degradation, conflict - and the smallholder farmer is at the centre of agricultural development. As we work towards a consensus on a new agricultural agenda, we must not lose sight of this fact. Coming in swift
succession, the meetings of the G8, G20 and the Rio +20 conference offer a unique opportunity to capitalise on the growing recognition that agricultural development is the key to a sustainable future. Small farmers not only need to be a focus of any new agreements; they need to have a role in framing them.


Agriculture is essential both to food security and to poverty reduction. Consider that growth generated by agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. And with at least 70
percent of the world’s poorest people living in the rural areas of developing countries, whether we succeed or fail in our efforts to feed the world and rid it of poverty will largely depend on reaching the people who work the world’s 500 million small farms, many of whom are women.

No new agricultural agenda can ignore the importance of empowering women. In developing countries, 43% of the farmers are women, yet their performance is hampered by deeply unequal access to services and resources - such as credit, extension and improved seeds and fertiliser. And more importantly, they often do not have title rights to the land they farm. It has been estimated that if women had the same access to resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30%. Closing this gender gap would lift 150 million people out of hunger.

To transform our lives we need modern equipment, water, electricity, telephone… and why not internet?

A new vision
It has long been apparent that there needs to be a second Green Revolution for the 21st century, with a more modulated approach. Today’s world is very different from the one in which the original Green Revolution was launched. Confronting climate change, an environment that is in many places seriously
degraded, and a population that is expected to top 9 billion people by 2050, what we need now is not ‘more of the same’. In moving ahead, we have to make sure we are not looking backward.

An approach relying heavily on inputs and energy will not succeed in the long run. We need to think differently if we are to achieve both environmental sustainability and sustainability over time. We need a
sustainable agricultural intensification agenda that can deliver not only greater productivity but also greater sustainability, resilience to shocks, decent incomes and jobs - particularly for rural youth - and greater nutritional value.

Smallholder agriculture is central to the success of this agenda on all fronts. In addition to increasing agricultural investment, we need to improve such investment. That means bringing together public and private investors in pursuit of the same goals, and making sure that the centrality of smallholders as the main
providers of on-farm private investment is recognised and supported first and foremost.


We will also need to ensure that interventions reach deep into rural areas. The benefits of research, such as improved seeds and drought-tolerant varieties, as well as market information and technologies, will need to be available on the most modest farm in the most remote location.

Farmers are not just recipients of assistance; they are our most important partners, whose involvement and
perspective is critical. During a recent visit to Cameroon, one young farmer, Susanne Nke, told me that “The rural women of our villages must really reach full autonomy. The arduous nature of their work must be reduced. We want to move from the hoe to the tractor.

If we want to engage the youth of today in agricultural development - which is critical to food security tomorrow - we need to listen to them. We should take note of how Susanne cogently articulates the links between equality and social justice, technological innovation, free exchange of information, and
social transformation. And clearly, agricultural development means building strong communities as well as livelihoods.

Connecting smallholder farmers to markets
Private sector partnerships are now widely seen as crucial to agricultural growth and the reduction of rural poverty. We should remember that smallholder farmers are already part of the private sector. Every farm,
no matter how small, is a business. And smallholder farmers are themselves the biggest investors in agriculture in developing countries.

However, these farmers face a number of hurdles in improving their efficiency, productivity and livelihoods. Many of these centre around access - access to markets, to technology, to credit, to the benefits of
innovation and research, to land, to water, and to information. Gender inequalities make access all the more challenging for women farmers, though they make up a large percentage of smallholder farmers and
are typically the most direct providers of food security at the household level.

When rural small farmers are connected to markets, they can sell more and better quality food at higher prices, eat a more diversified diet, and improve household food security and nutrition. With increased income they can pay for essential medicines, send their children to school and improve their lives. Belonging to an organised farmers’ group allows smallholder farmers to bulk produce, reduce costs through economies
of scale and, perhaps most importantly, to strengthen their bargaining power in the value chain, often dominated by powerful private-sector actors. Gender equality is important here as well, in the composition of farmers’ organisations and women farmers’ own ability to organise effectively.

Recognising small farmers and their organizations as primary stakeholders in development means more than paying lip service to them in global meetings. Truly acting upon this recognition requires genuine collaboration and inclusive processes, which cannot be an afterthought but need to start from the very design of programmes and continue through to evaluation.

In Guatemala, an IFAD supported project has helped a producers’ association in El Quiché buy irrigation equipment, build a new storage facility and work with the private sector to bring their produce to new markets. By engaging with private sector partners, they have seen a three-fold increase in productivity, and today these farmers sell to some of the biggest retailers in the world, including retailers in the United States.

There is no single solution that will allow small farmers to respond to the various challenges they face. But our experience has shown that targeted interventions that address the particular spectrum of issues faced by rural communities and that give smallholders a stake in the process are the most practical and cost-effective way to further agricultural development and improve the lives of rural people. The power of smallholders in ensuring food security and eradicating poverty is a reality that world leaders in Camp David, Mexico City and Rio cannot afford to ignore.

Originally published by Intrinsic Communications

Growing the business of smallholder agriculture

Transforming the lives of poor rural people

By Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD

When world leaders promised last year to mobilize US$22 billion towards developing country agriculture, their actions recognised the fact that investing in agriculture is essential if we are to meet the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and hunger.

With only five years left to meet the first MDG targets, we still have a long way to go. In 2009, the number of hungry people in the world reached a historic high of 1.02 billion and there are still around 1.4 billion people who struggle to survive on less than US$1.25 a day. Most of these men, women and children live in the rural areas of developing countries.

In order for the US$22 billion, pledged at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, to have its greatest possible impact on improving food security and reducing poverty, it must be directed towards creating business opportunities in the agricultural sector. Recognizing today’s and tomorrow’s farmers as entrepreneurs will go a long way in transforming the lives of poor rural people. Agriculture is a business and a powerful tool for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger But even beyond the MDGs, an investment in agriculture is a sound investment. Agriculture has driven economic growth through the centuries, from 18th century England, to 19th century Japan, to 20th century India, to Brazil, China and Viet Nam today. Gross Domestic Product growth generated by agriculture has been shown to be at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors.

The transformative capacity of investments in agriculture is often underappreciated. But if one takes a snapshot of the rural landscape in large parts of the developing world, the potential for change is astounding.

Agriculture – spanning crop production, fishing, livestock, forestry and pasture – is not an urban activity, farmland exists in rural areas. In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture provides jobs to around 60 per cent of the working population and small holder activity is the backbone of the agricultural sector. Young women and men, in particular, need to know that they have the potential to become tomorrow’s food producers, or the exodus from rural to urban areas will increase.

An investment in agriculture is therefore an investment in economic development, in rural areas, in young women and men and in food security.

For this investment to take hold, agriculture, whatever its size, must be seen as a business in order for poor rural people to transform themselves from subsistence farmers to small agribusiness entrepreneurs. But it takes the right type of investment for this to happen. Investments – whether by the international development community or developing country governments, as well as the private sector – need to be smart and targeted. Poor rural producers need: infrastructure and roads; transportation to get their products to market; irrigation and storage systems for their products; and communication and technologies to receive and share the latest information on prices. They also need access to rural financial services so that they are able to establish viable agribusinesses.

Vibrant rural economies need private sector partnerships

The right business environment, based on partnership between the public and private sector, is another essential element in creating a vibrant rural economy. Indeed, the private sector is more important than ever as a driver of economic growth in the developing world. Linking smallholder farmers to the private sector is critical to building the economies of developing countries. Additionally, partnerships with the private sector can provide essential assistance, including in leveraging investments and bringing knowledge, technology and infrastructure to rural areas in developing countries.

‘We can accelerate progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, and achieving a world without poverty and hunger, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it makes financial sense.’

The experience of the AECF

Poor rural people, including the 2 billion who live and work on the world’s 500 million small farms, have tremendous potential to contribute to a country’s economic growth and food security. They also have much to offer the private sector – not the least of which is a sustainable supply of high-quality agricultural produce.

The experience of IFAD has shown that agriculture is a business, and our business is to make smallholder agriculture a profitable agro-enterprise. With the right support, smallholders can contribute to a vibrant rural sector, where locally-produced products and services meet growing local demand. This, in turn, can spur sustainable off-farm employment growth in services, agro-processing and small-scale manufacturing.

The challenge today is to help build the capacity of smallholders and their organizations so that they can deliver what large businesses require, and in turn to encourage businesses to adapt their models to be inclusive and supportive of small-scale agricultural producers. We can accelerate progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, and achieving a world without poverty and hunger, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it makes financial sense.

A Model for Success

On the island of São Tomé, IFAD has linked cocoa farmers with KAOKA, a French organic chocolate-maker, securing a guaranteed market for their harvest. In 2005, an IFAD-supported programme brought in the French operator to analyse the country’s cocoa sector. The study concluded that Sao Tome’s cocoa varieties could produce superior quality beans, and that traditional farming methods could be easily adapted to organic production. Farmers received technical advice and financial support from both IFAD and KAOLA to help them make the change. An international company certified that the local cocoa was organic, and the French chocolatier agreed to purchase as much organic cocoa as the farmers could supply. The farming families that took part in the programme saw their incomes rise to 8 per cent above the poverty line, on average, from 25 per cent below. In 2005, the farmers formed an export cooperative and signed a five-year contract directly with KAOKA, guaranteeing them a stable minimum price, along with a premium to be invested in social services benefiting local communities. In 2009, farmers in the eastern part of the island signed another contract with Cafedirect in the United Kingdom to provide fair trade cocoa to the United Kingdom’s hot drinks industry.

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