International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD
The International Agricultural Development Fund (IFAD)
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
or IFAD for short, is a financial institution of the United Nations system that
provides loans for food and agricultural development to developing member
countries. According to the preparation of the World Food Conference held in
Rome in November 1974 in 1976, the business activities officially started in
January 1978.
IFAD has 173 member countries. Headquartered in Rome, Italy.
Its purpose is to raise funds and provide them to developing member countries
with preferential conditions for the development of food production, improve
the nutritional level of the people, and gradually eliminate rural poverty.
UN Organization Name: International Fund
for Agriculture Development
Abbreviated: IFAD
Location: United Nations
specialized agencies
Member: 173 member
countries (September 2014)
President: Gilbert Houngbo
(Togolese)
Headquarters: Rome, Italy
Publications: Annual publication
of "IFAD Annual Report" (IFAD Annual Report)
Date of establishment: November 30, 1977
Official website:
http://www.ifad.org/
What is the History of The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)?
In the early 1970s, agriculture in many parts of the world
was in short supply and a "food crisis" occurred. With the active
promotion of developing countries, the United Nations held the World Food
Conference in Rome in November 1974 and decided to establish the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in order to provide
agricultural development for developing countries, especially food production.
Funding is a specialized agency of the United Nations.
On November 13, 1977,
the "Agreement on the Establishment of an International Fund for
Agricultural Development" came into effect. IFAD was established in
December 1977 and started its business activities on January 1, 1978. It has
now developed into one of the three major UN agencies for food and agriculture.
November 1995, Conference on Hunger and Poverty (Brussels,
Belgium).
In January 1998, the 20th anniversary celebration of IFAD was
held in Rome, Italy.
In November 2000, the IFAD seminar participated in a
project-oriented logical framework method cycle.
Participants: IFAD directors,
national portfolio managers, regional economists and evaluators, project
managers or mechatronics personnel, cooperate on behalf of institutions,
bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental organizations, action research
scholars and practitioners.
The plenary session of the plenary session outlines
different project management methods.
What is the Purpose of The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)?
The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
provides funds to developing member countries with preferential conditions by
raising funds for the development of food production, improving the nutritional
level of the people, gradually eradicating rural poverty, and promoting
north-south agriculture Cooperation and South-South cooperation.
Organization
Main IFAD Institutions
President of IFAD: Gilbert Houngbo (Togolese), took office in
2017 and will serve until 2021.
IFAD's organizational structure includes: board of directors,
executive board of directors and management institutions.
1. Council of Directors
The IFAD Council of Directors is composed of all member
countries and is the highest authority of IFAD. Each member country has one
director and one deputy director.
The director has the right to vote, and the
deputy director has the right to vote only when the director is absent.
The
board of directors convenes an annual meeting each year to review the previous
year’s work report, prepare next year’s work plan and budget. Also, decide on major
issues such as supplementary donations, elect of a new president, revise
of loan policies and loan conditions.
2. Executive Board
The executive board is an important deliberation and
decision-making body in IFAD, second only to the council.
It is responsible for major
policy formulation, and approval and review of major issues such as loan and
grant projects, financial reports, budgets, and project investment plans.
It
consists of 18 executive directors and 18 deputy executive directors. Each term
of office is three years.
Among them, there are 8 executive directors and
deputy executive directors in Group A, 4 each in Group B, and 6 each in Group
C. China's C2 team has two executive directors and two vice executive
directors.
3. Management organization
The management organization consists of the Office of the
President, the Office of the Chief Advisor (Legal Affairs Department), the
Audit and Inspection Office, the Secretariat, the Ethics Office, the
Cooperation and Financing Affairs Department, the Financial Operations
Department, the Department of Organization Services, the Strategy and Knowledge
Management Department, and the Project Management Department.
There is also an independent evaluation office that is independent of the
management and directly reports to the executive board.
Mode of Operation of IFAD
The management committee is the highest decision-making power
of IFAD. Each member state represents the governor of the management committee,
alternate governors and other designated advisers.
The Executive Committee is
responsible for overseeing the general operation and approval of IFAD projects.
The members of the executive board are determined by the board of directors and
are distributed as follows: eight members and eight alternate members (mainly
OECD countries).
B: list four members and four alternate members (mainly OPEC
countries)
List C: Six members and six alternate members. Each C member
country (developing country) on a different list in two or three regions.
As of March 2013, IFAD headquarters has 567 formal employees,
including 1 president, 4 assistant vice presidents, 25 D directors, 306 P
(Professional) employees, and G service (General Service) There are 231
employees.
Internal structure of IFAD
As of December 2014, the staffing of IFAD is as follows:
312 professional and higher positions, 226 general service
positions, professional positions exclude the positions of president and vice
president.
In the professional and higher categories, employees are
citizens of 82 Member States, reflecting the diverse recruitment and merit-based
recruitment of IFAD.
In the professional category, 43% of the employees are
women, while in general services, women represent 81% of the category. Overall,
women accounted for 59% of IFAD’s employees.
In its associate professionals, special project officials
program, the organization benefits from 27 service professionals from ten donor
countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden and South Korea. Internship program.
IFAD has accepted 69
interns from 25 countries: Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada,
Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Kuwait, Mali, Malta, Niger, Norway,
Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, United States,
Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In the Enhanced Internship Program, IFAD
accepts 4 interns from 4 countries: Pakistan, France, Kenya and South Africa.
Members of International Fund for Agricultural Development
The members of the International Fund for Agricultural
Development are divided into three categories:
- Developed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- Developing countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other developing countries.
The source of funds mainly depends on the proportion of pledges made by the
first and second countries, and voluntary contributions by members of the third
type.
As of February 1997, there were 161 members. The first
category of countries are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.
The second category of countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries: Algeria, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Venezuela.
The third category of countries are
other developing countries.
As of October 24, 2012, there were 168 member countries in
IFAD, including:
23 members of Group A (OECD), 12 members of Group B
(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), and members of Group C
(developing countries) 133 countries.
Among the members of Group C, it is
subdivided into 50 members of Group C1 (Countries in Africa),
51 members of
Group C2 (Countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific),
32 members of Group C3
(Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean) Pcs.
China joined the agency in January 1980.
As of September 2014, there were 173 member countries (see
below):
Member States of the International Fund for Agricultural Development
Group
|
Member States
|
||||||
Group A
|
Austria
|
Belgium
|
Canada
|
Denmark
|
Estonia
|
Finland
|
France
|
Germany
|
Greece
|
Hungary
|
Iceland
|
Indonesia
|
Iraq
|
Ireland
|
|
Italy
|
Japan
|
Luxembourg
|
Netherlands
|
New Zealand
|
Nigeria
|
Norway
|
|
Portugal
|
Spain
|
Sweden
|
Switzerland
|
United Kingdom
|
United States
|
||
Group B
|
Algeria
|
Gabon
|
Iran
|
Kuwait
|
Qatar
|
Saudi Arabia
|
United Arab Emirates
|
Venezuela
|
|||||||
C1
|
Angola Central
|
Benin
|
Burkina Faso
|
Burundi
|
Cameroon
|
Cape Verde
|
African Republic
|
Chad
|
United Republic of
Tanzania
|
Comoros
|
Côte d’ Ivoire
|
Democratic Republic of
the Congo
|
Djibouti
|
Madagascar
|
|
Equatorial Guinea
|
Eritrea
|
Ethiopia
|
Gambia
|
Ghana
|
Guinea
|
Guinea- Bissau
|
|
Kenya
|
Lesotho
|
Liberia
|
Libya
|
Egypt
|
Malawi
|
Mali
|
|
Mauritania
|
Mauritius
|
Morocco
|
Mozambique
|
Namibia
|
Niger
|
Rwanda
|
|
Sao Tome
|
Principe
|
Senegal
|
Seychelles
|
Sierra Leone
|
Somalia
|
South Africa
|
|
South Sudan
|
Sudan
|
Swaziland
|
Congo
|
Togo
|
Tunisia
|
Uganda
|
|
Zambia
|
Zimbabwe
|
||||||
C2
|
Afghanistan
|
Albania
|
Armenia
|
Azerbaijan
|
Bangladesh
|
Bhutan
|
Bosnia
|
Herzegovina
|
Uzbekistan
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
Lao People's Democratic Republic
|
Papua New Guinea
|
Republic of Moldova
|
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
|
|
Fiji
|
Georgia
|
India
|
Israel
|
Jordan
|
Kazakhstan
|
Kiribati
|
|
Cambodia
|
China
|
Lebanon
|
Malaysia
|
Maldives
|
Malta
|
Marshall Islands
|
|
Mongolia
|
Myanmar
|
Nauru
|
Nepal
|
Niue
|
Oman
|
Pakistan
|
|
Island
|
Philippines
|
South Korea
|
Croatia
|
Romania
|
Samoa
|
Solomon Islands
|
|
Sri Lanka
|
Syria
|
Tajikistan
|
Thailand
|
East Timor
|
Tonga
|
Turkey
|
|
Tuvalu
|
Botswana
|
Vanuatu
|
Vietnam
|
Yemen
|
|||
C3
|
Antigua
|
Barbuda
|
Argentina
|
Bahamas
|
Barbados
|
Belize
|
Bolivia
|
Brazil
|
Chile
|
Colombia
|
Costa Rica
|
Cuba
|
Cyprus
|
Dominica
|
|
Dominican Republic
|
Ecuador
|
El Salvador
|
Grenada
|
Guatemala
|
Guyana
|
Haiti
|
|
Honduras
|
Jamaica
|
Mexico
|
Nicaragua
|
Panama
|
Paraguay
|
Peru
|
|
St kitts
|
Nevis
|
Saint Lucia
|
Saint Vincent
|
Grenadines
|
Suriname
|
Trinidad
|
|
Tobago
|
Uruguay
|
What are the Main Activities of The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)?
IFAD is an international financial institution that provides
financial services for poverty alleviation and agricultural development in
developing countries.
By the end of 2013, IFAD had invested approximately US $
15.7 billion in poverty-stricken areas in developing countries.
In terms of increasing food production, there are short-term
projects, long-term projects and policy support projects.
i. Short-term projects are mainly to improve crop yields by
improving land, improving irrigation and drainage, improving varieties,
improving farming systems and management levels.
ii. The long-term project is mainly to improve and improve
the production and living conditions of farmers through the construction of
water conservancy, reclamation and immigration.
iii. The policy support project is mainly to assist the
government to solve the capital needs for agricultural policy investment in
land, price, credit, market, subsidies and so on.
In terms of poverty eradication, IFAD mainly emphasizes that
loan projects should be directly used for individual farmers and rural women
with poor economic conditions, but not for state-owned enterprises or for
profit for private capital.
Funds
What are the Sources of Funds of The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)?
The funding sources of IFAD include:
i. Founding funds
ii. Member countries supplement
International Agricultural Development Fund in Brazil
International Agricultural Development Fund in Brazil
Donations.
iii. Special donations from non-member countries and from
other sources.
iv. Investment income from IFAD. The funding of IFAD funds is
negotiated and proposed by the three categories of countries.
Type I and II
member countries are the main donors of IFAD.
Type III member countries are the
main recipients of IFAD, but they also donate part of the funds on a voluntary
basis.
The IFAD replenishes funds every 3-5 years and makes a total of five
supplementary fund pledges, totaling a total of 4.1 billion special drawing
rights (including the founding fund).
How is Fund Allocation under The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) done?
IFAD mainly provides preferential financial support for
poverty alleviation and agricultural development in developing countries,
helping countries improve food security and promote the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals.
From 1978 to the end of 2011, IFAD invested a
total of 12.945 billion US dollars in poverty-stricken areas in developing
countries, supporting 892 projects and benefiting 330 million rural poor.
The grant is used for technical assistance and does not
exceed 7.5% of the annual work plan. Loans are divided into three categories,
namely:
Highly concessional loans, charge a service charge of 0.75%
per year (1% before 1994), and a loan period of 40 years (50 years before
1994), including a grace period of 10 years.
Any country whose GDP per capita
does not exceed US $ 805 can use such loans.
Moderate preferential loan, the annual interest rate is equivalent
to 50% of the floating rate of other international financial institutions (now
3.54%)
This type of loan is applicable to countries with a loan
period of 20 years, including a grace period of 5 years, and a GDP per capita
between US $ 806-1305.
Ordinary loans, with an annual interest rate equivalent to
100% of the floating rates of other international financial institutions (now
7.07%), loan period 15-18 years, including a grace period of 3 years,
applicable to developing countries with per capita gross national product of
more than 1,306 .
The loan project involves nine fields including agricultural
development, rural development, credit, irrigation, animal husbandry, fishery,
immigration and settlement, agricultural product storage, processing and sales,
scientific research and extension training, and emphasizes support for rural
poor women.
IFAD Fund Application
Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD cooperates with
the government in development and financial planning and projects to enable the
rural poor to overcome poverty.
Since opening in 1978, IFAD has invested $ 14.9
billion in 954 projects and plans, and has reached about 430 million poor rural
people.
In recipient countries, governments and other sources of
financing, including project participants, contributed $ 13 billion and
co-invested with multilateral, bilateral, and other donor agencies about $ 10
billion.
This is a total investment of about USD 23 billion.
IFAD’s poverty alleviation not only serves as a bank, but
also as an advocate for the rural poor.
Its multilateral foundation provides a
natural global platform to discuss important policy issues, affect the lives of
the rural poor, and focus on the core role of rural development to meet the
Millennium Development Goals.
In 2013, the new representative of the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (FIDA) in Burundi Hamed Haidara told the media that
the International Fund for Agricultural Development will provide Burundi with
more support, the amount of which has increased from the previous US $ 150
million to US $ 300 million.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development has four
major projects in Burundi, mainly related to the reconstruction of animal
husbandry, agriculture and other fields and the employment of rural young
people.
Principle of aid to China
On October 27, 1989, the IFAD's loan strategy to China
included the following eight points:
1. Priority should be given to poverty-stricken areas in
border areas.
2. Emphasis on helping poor farmers in collective development
activities.
3. Pay special attention to strengthening the participation
of farmers' organizations and other forms of organizations.
4. Encourage the use of new and applicable technologies,
5. Encourage institutional innovation to help remote and poor
rural households obtain production inputs, credit and support services.
6. Support market sales to increase cash income of poor
farmers.
7. Provide financial assistance to labor-intensive processing
enterprises managed by the beneficiaries.
8. Emphasize business diversification in order to correct the
past practice that only focused on food production.
Based on IFAD’s experience and lessons in implementing
projects around the world, the following eight points have been added:
9. Determine the feasibility of the beneficiary method.
10. Tilt to minority areas.
11. Pay attention to food security and food and clothing
issues.
12. According to the loan limit specified in the project
activity.
13. Lending institutions and village committees should be
strengthened to help with loan issuance and effective use.
14. On the basis of continuous planting experiments to make
better use of land and water resources, encourage continuous development.
15. Support extension, skills training and the development of
local institutions.
16. The project area should be appropriately reduced in order
to more effectively determine the beneficiary target and facilitate the project
implementation.
Relations with China
China officially joined the Agricultural Development Fund in
1980 and has maintained good cooperative relations with it. Since 1996, China
has served as the Executive Director of the Agricultural Development Fund (as
Deputy Executive Director in 2005).
In July 1979, the Chinese delegation took advantage of the
opportunity to participate in the "World Conference on Rural Reform and
Rural Development" in Rome, and contacted IFAD officials to begin
cooperation between the two sides.
In the winter of 1979, while participating in the FAO
Conference, the Chinese delegation consulted with IFAD officials on membership,
and then officially joined IFAD in 1980 and promised to pledge.
In the second
half of 1980, China submitted an application for the "Northern Grassland
and Livestock Development Project" and began substantial cooperation with
the Agricultural Development Fund.
With the development of the business, mutual visits of
high-level officials from both sides have become more frequent. The first three
presidents of IFAD:
Al Sultan, Sudri, and Yazeli have all visited China
successively and met with Chinese leaders. When Chinese leaders visited Italy,
they also met with high-level officials such as the then president A lot of
work has been done to promote friendly cooperation between the two sides.
Since joining the IFAD in 1980, China has pledged a total of
30.385 million US dollars to the IFAD, including: initial pledge of 600,000 US
dollars and 600,000 yuan.
The first phase of supplementary funds pledged was 1.3
million US dollars.
Supplementary funds pledged 1.8 million US dollars.
The
third phase of supplementary funds
Pledged 8 million US dollars. The fourth supplementary funds
pledged 8.5 million US dollars.
The fifth supplementary funds pledged 10
million US dollars.
As a category III member country, China had used highly
concessional loans and medium concessional loans alternately in the early
period of cooperation with IFAD.
Since 1987, IFAD has been providing highly
concessional loans to China.
As of 1990, IFAD has provided 16 concessional
loans to China with an agreed loan amount of US $ 400 million.
The IFAD loan
project covers 150 poor counties (cities) in 17 provinces (cities and
autonomous regions) in China, and about 9 million poor farmers directly
benefited.