Luanda - Angola's Ambassador to Italy Fátima Jardim on Thursday in Rome said her country remains committed to continue working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in the quest for changes needed to eliminate poverty.
IFAD, which was set up in 1977 to respond to the droughts and famines that have affected Africa and Asia over time, works in the most remote regions of developing and fragile countries, where few international financial institutions operate.
The institution promotes increased public and private investment in agriculture and the development of rural infrastructure, with the aim of fighting poverty, hunger and increasing resilience among rural women, at a time when it is positioned as the second largest multilateral investor in food and nutrition security in the world, dedicated to financing and mobilizing co-financing from member states and developing countries.
The diplomat, who was speaking at the special session of the IFAD Governing Council held on February 14 , said the support the institution provides to Angola enables it to show promising results, without, however, giving any figures.
Fátima Jardim underscored that the African continent urgently needs support for agricultural mechanization to develop local agriculture, since a large part of local food production is the product of manual labor, particularly by young people and women.
"Rural transformation will start with women, who represent 68% of the rural labor force," the diplomat said.
The ambassador also thanked the president of the IFAD, the member states and the French government and partners for their support during the thirteenth fundraising session ( IFAD-13) held in Paris jointly organized by Angola and France.
The two-day special session discussed ways of making better use of technological innovation so that rural communities can find solutions to the challenges they face in the agricultural sector.HM/ASS/AMP
