IFAD insights

The UN Agency, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has just held its annual meeting which focused on how to support young rural people who will play a vital role in feeding tomorrow's world. The President of IFAD, Kanayo Nwanze spoke to Susy Hodges afterwards in an exclusive interview about a range of global issues such as the current unrest sweeping the Mideast and North Africa region, how to persuade young people to remain in rural areas, rising food prices and the moral imperative to end the scandal of so many millions of people going hungry.
Saying "Agriculture is the engine for economic growth," Nwanze spoke of how there is an urgent need "to change the mindset" so people can see agriculture as a profession, especially young people, who form a large percentage of the population in developing nations. The problem, he says, "is that the rural young people don't want to stay in rural areas ... because the rural space lacks modern amenities."
Nwanze also spoke about his concerns over the current unrest in the Mideast and North Africa region and its implications. "My major worry is that what we're seeing happening (there) today may spread to other parts of the world, where the youth become restive and we then have a global crisis on our hands."
Referring to the moral imperative to try to feed the millions of people going hungry in our planet, Nwanze says there is an appalling waste of food, both in the developed world and the rich industrialised countries: "40 percent of the produce that leaves the farm (in developing nations) doesn't get to the consumer because it is lost due to poor storage and post harvesting processes"... whereas in the developed world "40 percent of what is not consumed is lost as waste "as people either have too much to eat and it's wasted ... or they buy too much."
Listen to the interview: