Minister of Agriculture meets IFAD Director in Rome

Rome, October 25 (SUNA) – Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Abu Bakr Omar, praised the vital role that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has been playing in responding immediately to support the requirements of small farmers and rural populations.

This came during his meeting with the IFAD Director, Mr. Alfrio Lario, on Friday, at the Fund’s headquarters in Rome, on the fringes of the meetings of the fifty-second session of the Committee on Food Security.

The meeting was attended by Sudan’s Ambassador to Rome and its Permanent Representative to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Sayid Al-Tayib Ahmed.

The Minister urged IFAD to play a greater role in supporting small farmers, p after the violations committed by the terrorist Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militias in production areas, including the destruction of production infrastructure and livelihoods, theft of strategic Reserve, burning of major crops, and the forced displacement of producers from agricultural areas.

The Minister also tackled the projects currently being implemented by the International Fund for Agricultural Development in cooperation with the Government of Sudan, stressing the need to continue and increase its support.

The Minister also called for the importance of providing technical and technological support and capacity building, especially in the field of value chains.

For his part, Ambassador Sayid El-Tayib praised the great efforts made by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to Sudan during the previous period, taking the opportunity to extend an invitation to Mr. Lario to visit Sudan as soon as possible, referring to the current visit of Ms. Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Program to Sudan, which represents a message of solidarity in standing with Sudan in light of these critical circumstances it is going through.

For his part, the Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development affirmed the Fund’s commitment to continue working with Sudan to provide the necessary support to small farmers, and to study increasing funding for its projects and programs that help stabilize farmers and improve their conditions, noting that the IFAD will continue its efforts to provide innovative solutions that guarantee a decent life for farmers in light of these exceptional circumstances that Sudan is going through, pledging to respond to the visit as soon as possible.