International Fund for Agriculture Dev to start on Wednesday in Rome, Italy

Islamabad: The two-day annual 31st session of the governing council of International Fund for Agriculture Development (Ifad) will start on Wednesday (February 13) in Rome, Italy. Caretaker Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) Prince Muhammad Esa Jan Baloch left here on Monday for Rome to participate in the session.

They said the challenges and opportunities for small farmers due to climatic change and new demands for increasing agricultural productivity would be on agenda of the meeting. They said climatic change, biofuels expansion and rising food prices were growing challenges for poor rural people.

But these trends also present opportunities to them. The council, in its three sessions, would discuss new challenges and opportunities for the small farmers on Thursday (February 14), they added. They said the session would also focus on how could poor rural people be helped to face a new magnitude of climate change? And how could poor rural people benefit from mitigation mechanisms and be paid for the environmental services they provide?

Sources said since 1978, the Ifad supported 22 projects in Pakistan with loans, amounting to 422.6 million dollars. The total estimated cost of the projects is 2,083 million dollars. The projects have directly benefited approximately 1.7 million households in rural Pakistan, working to improve the livelihoods and productivity of rural poor people.

They said the Ifad reached the most disadvantaged communities and addressed a range of development issues, from community management of resources to introduction of credit systems and development of irrigation and agriculture.

They said the Ifad's main objective was to reduce rural poverty by boosting productivity and raising incomes. It supported efforts to introduce technological improvements in livestock, agriculture, irrigation and mechanisation, they added.