2. 2
IFAD’s programme priorities and Bioenergy
Accra, Ghana, 18 October 2010
Dr. Rodney D. Cooke
Director, Policy and Technical Advisory Division
International Fund for Agricultural Development

3. IFAD at work
From 1979 to 2009:
• 829 projects in 115 countries
• Supported 300 million rural poor
• Total IFAD disbursement: over USD 12 billion
• USD 670.5 million in 33 new projects in 2009
• USD 850 million forecast for 2010

4. Smallholder farming
500 million smallholder farms worldwide
supporting around 2 billion people. They:
Farm 80% of the farmland in Asia and
Africa.
Produce 80% of the food consumed in the
developing world
Feed 1/3 of the global population.
Women are increasingly the farmers of the
developing world, producing between 45%
and 80% of household food.

5. Opportunities and Risks for Agriculture
RISKS
– Environmental degradation - the need
to make agriculture both productive
and sustainable
– Climate change - the importance of
adaptation & mitigation measures
– Increasing competition for scarce
resources: land & water
– Slower growth of agriculture
productivity in relation to growth of
demand
– Food price volatility
– Aid fatigue & fiscal crisis
– Smallholders pushed aside by
corporate farms
– Bio-fuels substitute for food
5
OPPORTUNITIES
- Increasing demand for agricultural
products
- Emergence of regional & global value
chains
- Biotechnology-driven agricultural
research changing technology options
- New markets for bio-fuels
- More resources for agriculture in short
term (L’Aquila, GAFSP, EU)
- More commitment by governments,
e.g. CAADP
- Globalised trade & private investment
in agriculture
- Changing business models
- Payment for environmental services
more widespread

6. The role of smallholders in closing the divide
• 500 million smallholder farms worldwide
The challenge: to transform
smallholder agriculture
into successful agribusinesses

7. I
• Integrate livestock toIntegrate livestock to
match rising demandmatch rising demand
• Develop privateDevelop private
Agro-processing &Agro-processing &
mktgmktg
• Cash crops: a roleCash crops: a role
for promisingfor promising
underutilised cropsunderutilised crops
Options for rural smallholders
• Improve basic foods andImprove basic foods and
staplesstaples

8. Interventions in the agricultural sector: Energy
– An estimated 2 billion people lack access to modern
energy services. They rely on traditional biomass
sources such as wood, agricultural residues, and
animal dung.
– Encourage local energy development to meet local
energy needs which will reduce deforestation, provide
cleaner burning fuel and provide the basis for
intensifying agricultural production;
– Reduce the GHG emissions by promoting cleaner
burning biofuels through smallholders farming
following CA practices..

9. Nexus between poverty and energy
• Most poor people use biomass for energy.
• Environmentally unsustainable.
Why are biofuels important for the rural poor?

10. Why are biofuels important for the rural poor?
• Almost 2.5 billion people in developing countries earn their
livelihoods from agriculture.
• Of these, 900 million live below the poverty line.
• Agriculture directly employs 1.3 billion people.
• And, agriculture contributes only around 4% of global GDP.
• Small agricultural basket that cannot sustain that many.

11. Why are biofuels important for the rural poor?
• Expand the traditional agricultural basket
(food, feed, fibre), by including biofuels.
• Selected bio-fuel crops offer this opportunity.
• Provided food security, environmental, land
and water issues are addressed.

12. IFAD’s guidelines for in biofuel development
• IFAD’s Strategic Framework (2007-2010), recognizes the importance of
biofuels as a major market opportunity for the poor.
• The Round Table discussion on biofuels in the GC 2008, led to the
conclusions that participation in biofuels has to be:
– pro-poor,
– pro-nature,
– pro-livelihoods,
– pro-women,
– while ensuring food security.

13. Why is IFAD focussing on research?
• Existing knowledge on 1st
generation technology, but these are
food crops.
• Capital investments on 2nd
and 3rd
generation technology, most
of which are not suitable for the poor in developing countries.
• More research is needed on non-food biofuel crops to make
them competitive.

14. Facility for non-food biofuel crop development
Objectives
1. coordinated research in a time-bound action plan along the
entire value chain;
2. finance local energy provision pilot projects to enhance food
security;
3. collect and disseminate information, research findings, and
successful experiences;
4. facilitate and strengthen R&D networking and knowledge
sharing; and
5. mainstream biofuel investment projects in partnership with
the private sector.

15. Is low expenditure on agriculture justified?
• A 1% p.a. increase in agriculture growth, on average leads to a 2.7%
increase in income of the lowest 3 income deciles in developing
countries (WDR 2007)
• Agriculture is 2.5 to 3 times more effective in increasing income of the
poor than is non-agriculture investment (WDR 2007)
• Agriculture growth, as opposed to growth in general, is typically found
to be the primary source of poverty reduction (IFPRI, 2007)
• Agricultural growth the pre-cursor to overall economic growth: Europe
and North America (in the early part of the 20th
century), in Japan a little
later, and more recently in China, India, and Vietnam

16. Biofuels and water
• Intensive cultivation of monoculture cash crops causes
environmental externalities associated with:
– Pesticides, fertilizers, high water use (which lead to water
pollution and depleted resources).
• Small scale farming production has lesser environmental
impacts.
Why not promote smallholder biofuel crop productionWhy not promote smallholder biofuel crop production
using CA techniques?using CA techniques?

17. Conclusion
• Biofuels should be treated like any other cash crop.
• Impacts could be minimized by preferring crop varieties and
farming techniques which cause low or positive impacts.
• A more balanced and a clear view on biofuels needs to be
disseminated.

18. Thank you!

19. Biofuels and food security
• Available analysis indicated that in general bio-fuels are not a primary
cause of hunger, nor a direct driver of food insecurity (GEF-STAP
Workshop on Liquid Biofuels, 2006).
• Bio-energy crops could be a means to alleviate poverty, and to increase
food security through income generation.
• Food security is not just a problem of production, rather a problem of
unequal access within developing countries (FAO 2005).
• Supply of energy in rural areas is central to intensification of agriculture.
This has become a pressing issue only because someThis has become a pressing issue only because some
countries have used food crops for biofuels production.countries have used food crops for biofuels production.
Solution: Do not use food crops for bio-fuel production, orSolution: Do not use food crops for bio-fuel production, or
promote multiple use crops.promote multiple use crops.

20. IFAD’s Development Objectives
• Strategic objectives: poor rural men and women in developing
countries have better access to, and have developed the skills and
organization to take advantage of:
– Natural resources (land and water);
– Improved agricultural technologies and effective production
services;
– A broad range of financial services;
– Transparent and competitive agricultural input and produce
markets;
– Opportunities for rural off-farm employment and enterprise
development; and
– Local and national policy and programming processes.

21. Principles of Engagement
• Selectivity and focus
– IFAD won’t work outside rural areas; provide relief, GBS.
Social services under specific conditions.
• Targeting
– Poor and vulnerable people: farmers, fishers, pastoralists,
landless. Always women, sometimes IP, orphans. Great
variation by country, not always absolute poorest.
• Empowering poor rural people
– Building skills, capacities, confidence; supporting their
organizations – local and national.

22. Principles of Engagement (contd)
• Innovation, learning and upscaling
– IFAD’s role to innovate, and through experience promote
upscaling by governments/donors
• Effective partnerships
– Local partnerships generally good, more partnerships
needed with donors and international organizations
• Sustainability
– Need to improve sustainability of project impact – key
factors achieving impact; local ownership and building
skills of target group

23. Problematique: not enough lights in Africa
Earth lights on