The UN International Fund for Agricultural Development's president Gilbert Houngbo, will meet Tanzania's President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli and other top officials during a three-day visit starting on Sunday that is aimed at strengthening measures to fight rural poverty.
During his meetings in Tanzania, Houngbo will look at investments to improve food and nutrition security, provide employment opportunities for rural youth and to reduce poverty, IFAD said in a statement.
Houngbo's visit will focus on the role of smallholder farmers in ensuring food security, as well as on the challenges posed by climate change, the work opportunities Tanzania's key agriculture sector can offer rural youth, said the statement.
In Tanzania, agriculture is not only the key driver of food production but employment creation, production of raw materials for industries and the generation of foreign exchange earnings. It contributes up to 80 per cent of export earnings and employs nearly 75 per cent of the workforce, IFAD noted.
Houngbo's talks will also centre on further investments needed to turn the agriculture sector into a highly productive and competitive one and will support the Tanzanian government's efforts to modernize it and to transform rural areas, the statement said.
In addition to the Tanzanian President, Houngbo will meet Tanzania's Minister for Finance and Planning, Philip Mpango, the Minister for Agriculture, Japhet Ngailonga Hasunga, and the Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office, Jenista Mhagama.
During his visit, Houngbo will meet participants in the IFAD-supported US$170 million Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Finance Support Programme which is operational in all Tanzania's 26 mainland regions and in Zanzibar. The project covers 141 rural districts, and Houngbo will see at first-hand how it has improved small farmers' access to markets and sustainable financial services, said the statement.
IFAD has invested $363.48 million to finance 15 rural development programmes and projects in the United Republic of Tanzania since 1978 worth a total US$ 839.59 million, benefiting about 4 million rural households.
