UN Agency Urges Focus on Rural Development to 'Break the Chain of Desperation'
Recognizing that rural development plays a fundamental role in stabilizing communities and reducing migration and conflict, senior government officials have renewed their commitment at a United Nations conference in Rome to invest in smallholder agriculture and reduce poverty in developing countries.
“By working together to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – starting with zero poverty and zero hunger – we can break the chain of desperation” that leads to emergencies and humanitarian disaster,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), on the final day of the agency's Governing Council.
The two-day conference, which is held annually in Rome for officials representing IFAD's 176 member states, heard urgent calls for action in support of increased investment in smallholder agriculture to ensure food security, climate change adaptation, equitable prosperity and, ultimately, to remove the root causes that lead to conflict and migration.
Luke Redmond