IFAD to host rural inequality conference

Rome, April 27 (IANS/AKI) United Nations officials, ministers researchers and civil society organisation representatives from over 15 countries will attend a rural inequality summit on May 2-3 at the UN agricultural development fund IFAD's headquarters here, the agency said on Thursday.

In all regions of the world, rates of extreme poverty and food scarcity are higher in rural areas, where three-quarters of the extremely poor and hungry people live, IFAD underlined.

The Rome conference will dissect national strategies and programmes aimed at ending economic disparities within rural areas - from social protection to sustainable livelihoods and wealth creation - and signal concrete policy options for eradicating extreme poverty, it said.

The number of people living in extreme poverty stands at 836 million, it said, adding: "This figure is especially alarming given the rise in the estimated number of chronically undernourished people in the world - from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016."

Almost 60 speakers including representatives of governments, universities, think tanks, UN agencies and non-government organisations from around the world are taking part in the conference, IFAD said.

Speakers at the Rome summit include Eko Putro Sandjojo, Minister for village, transmigration and disadvantaged areas of Indonesia; Diana Alarcon, adjunct academic secretary of the Mexico's Colegio de la Frontera Norte; and the Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development Secretary-General Estrella Penunia, IFAD said.

--IANS/AKI

vd