February 16, 2022
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, Governors, and Distinguished Guests –
The U.S. Government welcomes the International Fund for Agricultural Develompment (IFAD)’s positive impact on food security. Food insecurity is a reality across too many families, communities and countries, including, ironically among those who toil the earth. Global challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change are exacerbating a trend that started well before the pandemic – global hunger is on the rise.
IFAD’s work is thus both important and urgent. We applaud President Houngbo for his strong leadership, and we express our deep appreciation for the efforts of IFAD management and staff in carrying out the work of this important institution. We also recognize the valuable contributions of the Independent Office of Evaluation, which continually strives to promote institutional learning and improved programming at IFAD.
The U.S. Government remains committed to food security as a fundamental aspect of alleviating poverty. As a founding member and leading historical contributor, the United States maintains a strong partnership with IFAD and recognizes that IFAD has a unique mandate in supporting rural, low-income economies to be inclusive, productive, resilient, and sustainable. The enactment of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 and the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2017, as well as the U.S. Government Global Food Security Strategy 2022-2026, further demonstrate the U.S. Government’s continued commitment to addressing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty around the world. The U.S. Government was pleased to pledge $129 million towards IFAD’s successful and ambitious IFAD-12 replenishment. We have high expectations of the replenishment’s equally ambitious policy commitments and look forward to IFAD delivering on improved nutrition, stronger adaptation to climate change and resilience, and agricultural-led economic growth. In 2022, IFAD must strive to strengthen its private sector partnerships, remain focused on the poorest countries, and execute on its increased climate ambition across its portfolio. IFAD is a leader in delivering programming to support smallholder farmers in their efforts to adapt to climate change. We strongly support IFAD’s work on climate resilience and we look forward to learning about IFAD’s plans to align its operations with the goals of the Paris Agreement. We also encourage IFAD to continue to coordinate with other actors in the international food security financing architecture, including the other international financial institutions, multilateral funds such as the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund, and the other Rome-based agencies, to demonstrate its comparative advantage and deepen its impact on the ground.
The United States looks forward to working with IFAD management, stakeholders, and other members to strengthen the institution over the coming year so that it can continue to deliver on its core mission of reducing poverty and food insecurity through inclusive and sustainable rural transformation in the world’s poorest countries.
