The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Program (WFP) have signed an agreement to support small farmers and rural communities facing food and nutrition insecurity to diversify their livelihoods, protect their assets, income and access to financial services, improve their access to markets and to rehabilitate their lands.
This agreement will also strengthen their cooperation to acheive the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. It will emphasize working in areas severely affected by climate change, such as the Central American Dry Corridor, a region characterized by a high rate of deforestation, soil degradation and water scarcity.
Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of IFAD, Joaquín Lozano said, “We can not end poverty and hunger if we do not recognize where they are located: 48% of the rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be poor (against 27% of the urban population). – focus on, and policies and solutions have to be focused on, small producers, rural women, indigenous people and Afro-descendants.In this sense the three agencies of Rome are together to say loud and clear that the achievement of the objectives of Sustainable Development and of the 2030 Agenda passes unavoidably, for sustainable and inclusive rural development”
The agreement signed by IFAD and the WFP reinforces the commitment made by the three Rome-based agencies to join efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition globally, regionally and nationally to take advantage of synergies, complement their technical analyzes, mobilization of resources, dialogue with the public and private sectors and the provision of technical assistance to countries.
