The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an Italy-based agency of the UN, and the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), a quasi-governmental organisation in South Korea, recently signed an agreement to “strengthen their collaborative efforts to end hunger and poverty in developing countries.” In particular, the organizations will seek to “further develop agricultural value chains, climate-resilient agricultural practices and food security for smallholder farmers in developing countries, by mobilizing financial resources and contributing to the global policy dialogue.” Gilbert F Houngbo, the President of IFAD, described the agreement as a “commitment to draw lessons from Korea’s remarkable success in rural transformation and to ensure that others benefit from that experience.”
Established in 1978, KREI is a policy research institute dedicated to the development of agriculture in particular and rural areas in general.
IFAD, which was established in 1977 and is governed by 176 member nations, seeks to eradicate rural poverty in developing countries. The organization provides grants and loans to households as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on agricultural and food supply issues. IFAD issued new commitments of USD 1.3 billion during 2017, including loans of USD 631 million, bringing its portfolio of ongoing projects to approximately USD 11 billion. As of December 2017, it had 211 projects active in 97 countries.
By Jolene Khor, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
IFAD press release
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/news-detail/asset/41132474
KREI homepage
www.krei.re.kr/eng/index.do
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