French President urges global leaders to support agricultural development

In a move to sustainably
address rising hunger and
poverty, exacerbated by
COVID-19, climate change
and biodiversity loss, French
President Emmanuel Macron
called on global leaders to
step up their commitments
in support of long-term
agricultural development.
“Climate change, biodiversity
and food are all correlated.
Agriculture is key,” said
President Macron, who
announced a series of
commitments during the One
Planet Summit, including a
50 percent increase in funds
to the International Fund for
Agricultural Development
(IFAD) for its work in 2022-
2024. “I am convinced our
partners will follow in this
ambitious dynamic.”
Earlier in the day, President
Macron met with the IFAD’s UN
Goodwill Ambassadors Idris
Elba, actor, filmmaker and
humanitarian, and Sabrina
Dhowre Elba, actress, model
and activist, who advocated
for increased investments to
rural populations, biodiversity
and the fight against climate
change.
“We are delighted that
President Macron has joined
many countries, including
those from Africa, who have
increased their pledges to
IFAD, and we hope other

leaders and countries will
follow their lead,” said Idris
and Sabrina Dhowre Elba
following the announcement.
“At a time when every country
is experiencing hardship
from the pandemic, we need
more than ever the political
vision to tackle our interlinked
climate, health and economic
emergencies. Investing in
sustainable agriculture and
rural areas not only creates
economic opportunities for a
better and more equal future
but can also help safeguard
our planet.”
“We are extremely grateful
to France for joining
many other countries in
substantially stepping up their
commitments,” said Gilbert F.
Houngbo, President of IFAD.
“This investment will help
sustainably free millions of the
world’s most vulnerable people
from the cycle of hunger and
poverty, which is exacerbated
by increasingly unpredictable
weather. Less hunger, less
poverty and a strengthened
resilience to climate change
mean a more prosperous and
stable world for all.”
Three out of four of the world’s
poorest people live in rural
areas. A majority of them
work in agriculture on small
farms. While they produce
50 percent of the world’s food
calories on only 30 percent

of global agricultural land,
many of them live in poverty
and cannot feed their families.
Hunger and poverty are on
the rise due to conflict, climate
change and the COVID-19
pandemic.
IFAD is one of the world’s
largest multilateral financiers
of agriculture and rural
development, active in
remote, rural areas in almost
100 countries. For over 40
years, its work has shown
that investing in rural areas
promotes prosperity, food
security and resilience to
weather changes, natural
disasters, price hikes and
other shocks like the COVID-19
pandemic that can later lead to
humanitarian crises. Research
also shows that economic
growth in agriculture is two to
three times more effective at
reducing poverty than growth
in other sectors.
IFAD has called on its
Member States to significantly
increase their contributions
in support of its Twelfth
Replenishment to deliver an

overall programme of work
of at least US$11 billion from
2022 to 2024, including
through a new private-sector
financing programme and an
expansion of its pioneering
climate change adaptation
programme (ASAP+). This
would help approximately
140 million rural people
increase their production
and raise their incomes
through better market access,
contributing to creating jobs
and improving food security
and nutrition for the world’s
most vulnerable people.
France joins 25 other
countries who have already
pledged their contributions
to IFAD’s Replenishment
including increases from
countries such as Burkina
Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Finland,
The Gambia, Greece,
Luxembourg, Mali, São
Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra
Leone, Sweden and Uganda.
Significant pledges have
also been made by the
Netherlands and Japan.
Many other countries have
confirmed their intention
to announce increased
contributions at the main
pledging session in February.