IFAD Holds Agric Dev Confab, Today

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will today hold a conference on seeking greater investments in rural development and innovative financing for smallholder agriculture that benefits the rural poor in Abuja.
In a release obtained by The Tide in Port Harcourt, Monday, the event tagged: “Investing In Inclusive Rural Transformation: Innovative Approaches to Financing” is being held in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Economy, the Brookings Institution and the University of Warwick.
The conference will bring together a diverse cross section of government, public and private-sector stakeholders for three days of lively and thoughtful discussions on facilitating investments in rural development and improving access to finance for investment by small holder farmers and medium enterprises.
Justifying the need for the conference, which is the first ever held, IFAD President, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, said, “In all regions of the world, poverty and food insecurity are highest in rural areas, where three quarters of the extremely poor reside.”
The conference, Nwanze maintained, comes at a critical time, adding that eradicating poverty and hunger “will not happen by 2030 unless we step up development financing in rural areas and work together to collectively transform rural economies and societies.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Eric Maskin, the Adams University Professor at Havard University, Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution, Jean-Michel Serverin, President, Investisseurs and Partenaires and Montek Singh Ahluwalia of the Planning Commission of India will be on hand to deliver keynote addresses.