Invigorating rural economies is key

Rome: With a determination to leverage the energy and talents of young rural people in the fight to eradicate rural poverty, the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) concluded its 34th session held over two days at the Fund’s headquarters in Rome recently.

Delegates from IFAD’s 167 Member States heard from prominent international figures, youth leaders and high-ranking government officials on topics related to ensuring food security, invigorating smallholder farming and the need to support and encourage rural youth.

In opening the meeting yesterday, the Fund’s President, Kanayo F. Nwanze, told delegates that IFAD is taking steps to create more vibrant rural economies, which in turn will propel the agency’s rural poverty reduction efforts.  “The programmes and projects we support are generating the conditions for smallholders and other poor rural people to become entrepreneurs in the new, evolving markets,” he said.

In his keynote address to the Governing Council, Kofi Annan, Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and a former United Nations Secretary-General, spoke of recent progress on African agricultural development and said the continent “has the potential to feed not just our own citizens but to help create a secure global food system.”

He said further progress requires “making farming attractive to young people with ambition and drive. They are the generation we need to make change sustainable.”

Princess Haya Al Hussein, United Nations Messenger of Peace and wife of the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, appealed to the delegates to redouble their efforts to address and end world hunger, while applauding IFAD for its efforts to advance the interests of rural women and young people.

A plenary panel discussion on Saturday, ‘Feeding future generations: young rural people today – prosperous, productive farmers tomorrow,’ moderated by former CNN International presenter Tumi Makgabo,  provided an interactive discussion  on the critical challenges rural youth face and how their energy can be tapped to help create more vibrant rural economies.

During proceedings, a series of interactive panel discussions were held to further explore the experiences of rural youth from developing countries in four regions of the world.

Successful young businesspersons in the Near East

A session focusing on the Near East, North Africa and Europe included presentations from several young entrepreneurs who had each leveraged small start-up loans from IFAD and from government rural development programmes to build successful businesses in their home communities.

Hanan Mohammad Hazaa Al-Bsoul spoke of her experience of partnering with a business incubator in her rural village to open a small shop selling women’s clothes and accessories. “My goal is to grow this into a large-scale business that employs a large number of people,” she said.

Abdulla Al Dani, a young entrepreneur from the Syrian Arab Republic, has already found such success. He described how he leveraged an initial US$1,000 loan from an IFAD-supported programme into a thriving mosaic and stone artwork business that now employs 250 people. “I plan to continue growing and hiring more people and developing my operation into a world-class business,” he said.

They and others at the session identified several key obstacles to success – namely, identifying and accessing markets where their products can be sold, the financial stability of their customers, getting pension coverage and other forms of social protection, and organising into associations with other young rural businesspeople so they can collectively advance their interests.

Asia and the Pacific session look at rural to urban migration

In a side event focusing on the Asia and the Pacific region, young panellists emphasised how to make rural areas attractive to young people as places to work and live, so that migration to the city becomes a question of choice rather than necessity.

“We need to improve the quality of life for young rural people and give them the same opportunities young urban people have. We need to link rural areas with the cities,” said Harsha de Silva, a development economist from Sri Lanka who is a successful entrepreneur and member of his country’s parliament.

“Farming shouldn’t be the last occupation of choice for rural young people. We need to change this thinking if we want to have food security,” said Soane Patolo, General Manager of the IFAD-funded Mainstreaming of Rural Development Innovations Programme (MORDI) in Tonga.

Creating reasons for young people to want to stay and prosper in rural Africa

The notion of creating reasons for young people to want to stay in rural areas came up at all the side events, and was a particular point of focus in the session on sub-Saharan Africa.   For Cesaria Kantarama, a farmer and farmers organisation representative in Rwanda, “the biggest challenge for agriculture is to stop the exodus and enable young people to develop their own activities and be happy where they are”.

Panellists noted that the principal problem countries in the region face is the lack of resources and land to cultivate. Ali Neino, Secretary General of the Inter-villages Group and President of the targeting advisory group “Dana Gana’in dan Saga” noted that in Niger most of the young farmers possess less than a hectare of land.

Supporting rural youth microenterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean

Young rural business operators were on hand to discuss their views, experiences and practices at a panel focusing on the Latin American and Caribbean region. Sandra Guadalupe Sandoval Orellana, local manager of Los Tepemechines Cooperative in El Salvador lamented the difficulties that younger rural entrepreneurs have in establishing themselves in the business world.  “We must find a way to remove our invisibility. We have very little space because adults believe very little in us.”

And for Dayana Rivera Rivas of the Association of Small Coffee Producers of La Marina in Colombia, young businesspersons “need assistance to gain immediate access to financial services and capital markets. We need to be seen as offering an opportunity to invest in the economic growth of our areas.” 

During the weekend’s proceedings, the Governing Council approved the applications for membership of the Republics of Uzbekistan and Hungary by acclamation.

The Governing Council meeting was preceded by a two-day workshop involving about 30 representatives of indigenous peoples’ organisations, where it was announced that an indigenous peoples’ forum would be established under IFAD’s auspices. The forum’s overall aim will be to advance the participation of indigenous peoples in IFAD discussions and programmes that have an impact on them.