Beijing, 26 June 2018 – Charlotte Salford, Associate Vice-President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is in China this week to meet with senior officials of the government, partners from the private sector as well as participants in IFAD-supported projects. IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries.
Though China has drastically reduced poverty over the last 40 years, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, some 30 million people in rural areas are still living below the poverty line. They often live in remote areas with few options to improve their incomes and living conditions.
“IFAD can play a central role in supporting China’s efforts to eradicate rural poverty by 2020, while also ensuring that smallholders can benefit from the process of rural transformation and agricultural modernization,” said Salford, who oversees IFAD’s External Relations and Governance Department. “IFAD and China share a commitment to replicate and expand upon what works for rural communities, and to ensure that our consolidated knowledge can better inform policymaking through South-South and Triangular Cooperation.”
While in Beijing, the IFAD Associate Vice-President will participate in the first Global Bamboo and Rattan International Conference organized by the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation and the State Forestry Administration of China to explore how these strategic resources can be further utilized for sustainable development.
In addition, Salford will attend meetings at the Ministry of Finance, the State Council’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the International Poverty Reduction Center of China, and the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to discuss ongoing IFAD-China collaboration, and particularly South–South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC).
The delegation also will visit rural families who are a part of the IFAD-funded Jiangxi Mountainous Area Agribusiness Promotion Project. The project aims to increase farmer revenues by improving linkages to markets and providing them with access to credit, and management and business training.
IFAD recently established an office in Beijing as one of its regional SSTC Centers to further strengthen its work with rural development partners in China, and to collect and share information and best practices.
Since 1981, IFAD has supported 30 rural development projects in China, investing more than US$934 million and reaching almost 4.5 million rural families. IFAD-supported projects focus on enhancing income opportunities through improving rural people’s access to markets, strengthening value chains and promoting more inclusive financial services.
IFAD has invested in rural people for 40 years, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided about US$19.7 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached some 474 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub.