Luanda — At least two billion US dollars is the amount that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) needs to double aid for food security and improve its impact on the lives of 100 million people in rural areas worldwide.
According to a note ANGOP had access to Saturday on the 13th Meeting to Replenish IFAD's Financial Resources, which took place from the 13th to the 15th of this month in Paris, France, the institution assures that the member states are guaranteeing USD 1 billion for the same purpose.
The document states that the aim is to continue to mobilise the funds necessary for IFAD to finance global food security by supporting rural communities, which are responsible for producing a third of the world's food.
It mentions IFAD Chairman Álvaro Lario, who emphasised that a critical moment in history has been reached, marked by rising global temperatures and related climate shocks, factors that are having unprecedented and possibly irreversible effects on agricultural systems, undermining food and nutritional security around the world.
The official said that to mitigate the situation, the international organisation has managed to mobilise more funds, through private loans and linking up with global capital markets, being the first specialised UN agency to do so.
He said that without greater investment in rural communities, there is no hope of ending global hunger and poverty by 2030.
He explained that IFAD is calling for increased investment to transform food systems in order to provide adequate, affordable and nutritious food for all, without jeopardising ecosystems and the planet and recalled that even in an age dominated by technology, most of the people of the world depend on the food sector for their livelihoods.
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According to him, adequate funding allows rural communities to adapt to global challenges and strengthens global food security in general.
Angola took part with a delegation led by the minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Carmen dos Santos, and included the secretary of State for Farming, João Cunha, Ambassador Fátima Jardim, Angola's representative to the United Nations agencies in Rome, Angola's Ambassador to France, Guilhermina Prata, and senior technicians, among the 48 participating countries.
Established in 1977 in response to the hunger in the Sahel, discussed at the World Food Conference in 1974, IFAD is a UN agency based in Rome, with the aim of helping poor rural populations in developing countries to overcome poverty.
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