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| IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze |
Rome, 16 February 2015 – Development leaders and heads of
state and government representatives gathered for the opening of the 38th
Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) to call for additional investments towards the
transformation of rural areas, which are key to the world’s food supply.
In his opening
statement John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, said that
his vision for the country is “to transform the rural areas of Ghana in order
to create a more diversified, better integrated, and modern rural economy. One
that closes the gap between urban and rural areas in terms of access to services,
opportunities, living standards, and prosperity.”
In Ghana, progress
has been made, Mahama said, but only because benefits of development programmes
“are tilted more to my farmers than to the bureaucrats.”
Mahama warned the
international community that “neglect of the rural space can have dire
consequences” and that “a strong connection between the rural and urban space
cannot be taken for granted.”
HRH Tupou VI, the
King of Tonga, conveyed his support to this year’s Governing Council theme,
‘Rural Transformation: Key to sustainable development’, and said that to make
this transformation a reality there needs to be an increased focus on building
the risk management and resilience capacity of rural people to manage a
changing environment. Specifically, he called for increased access by rural
communities to climate finance.
