ISLAMABAD,(TW) : Reehana Rifat Raza, the Regional Director for the Asia and Pacific Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) recently visited Pakistan to deepen IFAD’s existing partnership with the country and meet government counterparts, key development partners and the United Nations in Pakistan.
A key objective of the visit was to explore new opportunities for IFAD and Pakistan to collaborate in their shared mission to eliminate rural poverty and hunger. Critically, these discussions also incorporated an understanding of the on-the-ground challenges to the successful implementation of IFAD’s transformative vision of rural development.
In Islamabad, she met Kazim Niaz, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and expressed appreciation for pledging US$10 million to IFAD’s 2025-2027 replenishment cycle. She also commended the government for paying the first installment for IFAD’s 2022-2024 replenishment cycle.
She also met Ali Amin Gandapur, Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. During the meeting, Raza briefed the chief minister on IFAD’s work and investments in Pakistan, highlighting the deepening partnership between IFAD and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Economic Transformation Project (KP-RETP; 2022-2027), which will soon widen its outreach with the opening of regional offices
She also met Mohamed Yahya, the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC), where, she discussed IFAD’s collaboration with the government to boost the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers through climate-resilient diversification and an agribusiness approach. She also highlighted efforts to include landless and ultra-poor households via an economic graduation strategy. Further, she acknowledged the UNRC’s prioritization of the Food Systems Transition Pathway as a key accelerator of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Pakistan for 2024 and committed to co-leading it together with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme.
She also met development partners, including Yong Ye, Country Director, Asian Development Bank; Guillermo Montt, Officer In Charge, International Labour Organisation, Pakistan; and Najam Ahmed Shah, Chairman of Planning and Development Board, Sindh; IFAD has five active projects and one project in pipeline in Pakistan, making it one of IFAD’s largest portfolios. These are aimed at enhancing the productivity and profitability of small-scale farmers by encouraging climate-resilient diversification in farming, as well as building agribusinesses that would put more money in their pockets. The current portfolio amounts to about US$691 million of which US$451 million is contributed by IFAD. Since 1978, IFAD and Pakistan have collaborated on 28 Projects for a total investment of US$2.91 billion with IFAD financing amounting to US$920 million.
IFAD is also focused on inclusivity, enabling women, youth, and landless and ultra-poor households to graduate to self-sustaining decent livelihoods through a combination of skills, productive assets, start-up capital for enterprises and engagement in remunerative employment in cooperative agribusinesses. Read more about IFAD’s work in Pakistan here.