The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has begun efforts to rally global leaders around the urgent need to address food insecurity and accelerate rural development worldwide.
IFAD President, Alvaro Lario, disclosed this during a private audience with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace, where he highlighted the strong alignment between the Pope’s social vision and IFAD’s mission to transform rural economies, strengthen food security, and promote prosperity in some of the world’s poorest regions.
President Lario commended Pope Leo XIV’s emphasis on human dignity, inclusion, and support for vulnerable communities, noting that these priorities closely reflect IFAD’s investments and programs in rural areas, particularly in regions affected by conflict, climate shocks, and food shortages.
He said both IFAD and the Holy See share a common belief that people in rural communities must be allowed to live productive lives, earn decent incomes, and enjoy peace, describing these as essential conditions for human dignity.
The IFAD President also pointed to Pope Leo XIV’s long pastoral experience in Peru as a shared point of reference, citing IFAD’s Avanzar Rural project in the country, which has helped raise rural incomes by an average of 40 per cent through community-driven development.
Emphasizing the importance of rural development for young people, Lario noted that access to resources, markets and resilience tools enables rural families to grow incomes, establish small businesses, and seize new economic opportunities.
He added that such investments help reduce instability, conflict, and forced migration.
According to IFAD data, a one per cent increase in land productivity across its investments in Ethiopia was associated with a three per cent reduction in local conflicts.
In Mali, districts without IFAD support recorded an eight per cent increase in local conflicts compared with those benefiting from financial assistance and rural advisory programs.
President Lario welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s moral leadership in promoting global solidarity and a more just and inclusive world, describing investments in rural communities as key to long-term stability and shared prosperity.
The meeting came as IFAD prepares to launch a new three-year replenishment campaign aimed at mobilizing resources to invest in rural people between 2028 and 2030.
Globally, an estimated 673 million people, representing 8.2 per cent of the world’s population, experienced hunger in 2024, while about 80 per cent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas of developing countries.
IFAD is a United Nations specialized agency and international financial institution based in Rome.
Since 1978, it has provided more than 25 billion dollars in grants and low-interest loans to support rural development projects in developing countries.
