Byron Dorgan: “IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations that has the mission of fighting hunger and poverty throughout the…”

“IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations that has the mission of fighting hunger and poverty throughout the world. Since 1977 IFAD has helped rural poor to increase their nutrition, their food production and their income. It has reached about 160 million people through 429 different projects, mostly in Africa and Asia, the regions where most of the world's poor live. In its lending work, IFAD has an overhead of less than 10 percent, and it has achieved loan repayments of 97 percent in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Benin, and Dominica. More importantly, IFAD has been an innovator in providing microcredit to vulnerable groups that are often difficult to reach, such as small farmers, the landless poor and rural women. Mr. President, that is why I was interested to read language related to IFAD in the report of the House Appropriations Committee on the House's version of the foreign operations bill.”