25 December 2008
The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr Sayyadi Ruma, yesterday reaffirmed the Federal Government's commitment to increasing its contribution to IFAD's Replenishment Fund from five million U.S. dollars to 15 million dollars.
Ruma told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the contribution was increased to reposition the country's agricultural and rural development programmes to the centre-stage of international development.
He said that efforts to reposition agriculture and rural development could only be achieved through a substantial increase in agricultural investments.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is one of the largest sources of funds for agricultural development to many developing countries and Nigeria is one of the 83 active contributors to the Fund.
The country is also a frontline beneficiary of its assistance and development programmes.
Ruma, who is the current chairman of IFAD's Governing Council, said that Nigeria would also meet all her existing obligations, not only to the Replenishment Fund, but also to other IFAD programmes.
He noted that many observers had attributed the recent global food crisis to under-investment in agriculture by national governments, decline in development assistance and climatic change.
The minister said that IFAD member-countries unanimously agreed to increase their contributions to the Replenishment Fund.
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