Hunger has declined for a third consecutive year, but around 645 million people still face hunger and nearly 2.7 billion cannot afford a healthy diet. Progress is possible, but it remains uneven. At the opening of #CFS54, I highlighted the need to connect policy more closely with investment. Making healthy diets affordable requires investment across the food system, from production and storage to processing, transport and markets. Small-scale producers need those systems to work so they can earn a better living and supply nutritious food reliably. The Committee on World Food Security brings together governments, scientific evidence and the experience of communities to guide these decisions. @IFAD helps translate that guidance into investments shaped by countries’ priorities. Through #IFAD14, we will focus on stronger markets, more rural jobs and greater resilience. Connecting farmers to buyers, reducing food losses and helping rural businesses grow are practical ways to improve both incomes and food affordability. Our shared task is to ensure that global policy leads to better investment decisions and that those investments make healthy diets more affordable and rural livelihoods more secure. #FinancingTheFirstMile

We can achieve more for rural communities when we design and invest together. That means bringing their needs into our joint investments from the outset, and connecting rural businesses and markets to larger infrastructure and financing. As I conclude my participation in the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Bangkok, this is the opportunity ahead of us. Our new co-financing agreements with @WorldBankGroup and @isdb_group will help us combine our resources and expertise at the first mile. We are also strengthening cooperation through #AgriConnect and #WaterForward, while working with private investors to expand opportunities for rural agribusinesses. @IFAD brings almost 50 years of experience working with governments and rural communities to develop markets and bankable investments. That experience is essential to ensuring larger financing initiatives reach small-scale producers and rural entrepreneurs. On #WorldFoodDay, the purpose of this cooperation is clear. More jobs, greater food security and more resilient rural economies. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #WBGMeetings

Investing in rural economies strengthens food security, creates jobs and sustains trade, especially as climate shocks and instability put these foundations under pressure. Today, I met Canada’s Secretary of State for International Development, @randeepssarai. Canada’s CAD263 million climate finance commitment through @IFAD supports three investments alongside US$403 million in partner financing, helping rural communities access investment and markets while managing climate risks. With the Netherlands’ Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, @ministerBHOS, I discussed how rural investment supports prosperity and stability, including in fragile contexts. Dutch partnerships are strengthening Nepal’s ginger value chain through work with SNV and a Dutch company, while our cooperation with Rabo Partnerships supports national development banks. At @WorldBankGroup #AgriConnect roundtable, “Feeding Asia: The Next Trillion-Dollar Investment Opportunity”, we explored how to translate rural business opportunities into investment. There are ongoing discussions to mobilize US$30 million through IFAD operations in Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka. Rural investment belongs at the centre of the global financing agenda. Stronger economies, reliable food supplies and lasting stability depend on backing the people and businesses at the first mile with the capital to deliver. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #WBGMeetings | @CanadaDev | @MinBZ

Today, I held a series of bilateral discussions with Member States and development finance institutions, focused on deepening cooperation, expanding investment opportunities and translating shared priorities into concrete results for rural communities. I met with Jeremy Wiggins of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Nguyen Quoc Phuong, Director General at Viet Nams Ministry of Finance and Liao Min, China's Vice Minister of Finance. These discussions are important to deepening our engagement with Member States and identifying opportunities for stronger collaboration. I also met Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, President of @TheOPECFund , and Michael Jongeneel, CEO of @FMO_development, to explore closer cooperation on development finance, private-sector investment and market creation, particularly in fragile contexts. A key milestone was signing a new cooperation and co-financing agreement with @isdb_group, alongside its President, Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser. This provides an important foundation for expanding joint investments, strengthening institutional cooperation and bringing our complementary expertise together. I also welcomed partners from the @arabcoordgroup for an exchange on how we can strengthen coordination, identify shared priorities and deliver greater collective impact. By working more closely across governments, international financial institutions and development banks, we can turn shared priorities into coordinated action and greater impact for rural communities on the ground. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #WBGMeetings | @IFAD

This morning, I hosted an #IFAD14 Asia and the Pacific Ministerial Roundtable, together with the Government of the Philippines on the margins of the @WorldBankGroup and @IMFNews Annual Meetings in Bangkok. I was pleased to welcome Ministers and representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Viet Nam, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Kiribati among others. The strong participation of Pacific Island countries was particularly important, highlighting the need for greater investment in resilient rural economies. The challenges are significant. Some countries in the region import over 85% of their fertilizer, while most Pacific small island developing states depend on imports for more than 60% of their food. Global supply chain disruptions and rising costs directly affect farmers, rural businesses and food security. Yet the opportunities are equally significant. Asia and the Pacific is @IFAD's largest regional portfolio, with deep domestic capital markets, dynamic private sectors and innovative financing models. From mobilizing private co-financing for rural enterprises in Bangladesh to strengthening agricultural value chains in the Philippines, targeted public investment can reduce risks and unlock additional capital. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #WBGMeetings | @IFADAsia

Global economic shocks are increasingly interconnected. When conflict, climate events and rising food, energy and fertilizer costs disrupt production at the first mile, the effects are felt across supply chains, markets and economies worldwide. At the IMF–World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bangkok, the signing of a new co-financing agreement with @WorldBankGroup President Ajay Banga marked a significant step forward. It creates opportunities to deepen our operational collaboration, including through #AgriConnect and #WaterForward, and connect larger pools of capital to investments in rural communities. My discussions with Rashaid Ali Al-Bader, Director General of @KuwaitFund, Herman Saheruddin of Indonesia’s Ministry of Finance, and Samantha Bandara and Kapila Senanayake of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance, focused on strengthening investment in rural economies, creating jobs and building more resilient food systems. By strengthening partnerships with governments, development banks and the private sector, we can mobilize more capital and take proven investments to greater scale. @IFAD | #IFAD14 | #FinancingTheFirstMile | #WBGMeetings

I leave India with a strong sense of what can be achieved when ambition is matched by investment and a clear focus on people at the first mile. Arriving in Bangkok, I am also reminded that no institution can deliver the scale of change we need alone. I am now in Bangkok to open @IFAD's new regional office premises and participate in @WorldBankGroup and @IMFNews Annual Meetings where the focus turns to how we work together to mobilize more capital and make development finance go further, particularly in countries facing conflict, climate shocks and fragility. As we advance #IFAD14, I see real potential to deepen our partnership with the World Bank, other MDBs and IFIs. IFAD brings five decades of experience and investment in rural communities. By connecting that reach and expertise with larger pools of capital, we can take successful investments to greater scale. The macro and micro must connect. Ultimately, what matters is not just how much financing we mobilize, but whether it translates into jobs, higher incomes, greater resilience and stronger rural economies. That is what financing the first mile is about. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #WBGMeetings

Across my visit to India, I have seen how different parts of a rural economy reinforce each other through @IFAD's Meghalaya Livelihoods and Access to Markets Investment. At Umwang, the foundation is strong community institutions and shared services through a community-led aggregation facility, collective marketing and affordable farm mechanization for regional crops like pineapple, ginger and bay leaves. . At Bhoirymbong, it is community-led quality processing, value addition, and market linkages to higher-value regional and international markets. And here in Jirang, it is diversified, commercially viable agriculture and processing, with a 100-acre model farm bringing together farmers from the community showcasing 18 high-value crops. Rural transformation does not come from one intervention alone. It comes from connecting institutions, production, processing, finance and markets so that rural businesses can grow and communities can retain more value locally. That is the model we want to deepen and take to scale. #FinancingTheFirstMile

For a small-scale producers, access to machinery, finance and markets can make the difference between producing more and actually earning more. Here in Umwang Village, this community-owned cooperative brings those pieces together under one platform, serving 167 members across 105 households. Farmers growing pineapple, ginger and bay leaves can access shared machinery, reduce labour costs and market their produce collectively rather than relying on middlemen. Strong community institutions give smallholders greater bargaining power, better access to services and a clearer path to scale. This is what @IFAD financing the first mile looks like in practice. #FinancingTheFirstMile

Today, I was pleased to meet with India’s Finance Minister @nsitharaman, to discuss the next phase of IFAD-India partnership and how we reach the first mile, scale proven solutions, and share lessons learned in India and beyond. The new India - @IFAD eight-year country strategy gives us a strong platform to build on our joint ongoing portfolio of USD 1.3 billion portfolio. It closely aligns with India’s national priorities and focused on resilience, economic opportunity and stronger access to finance and markets at the first mile. I look forward to seeing this partnership on the ground in Meghalaya. India’s experience shows that rural prosperity depends on more than finance alone. It starts at the first mile by working directly with the communities at district level, introducing resilient practices, connecting small holders to markets, and building strong community institutions. As #IFAD14 advances, India’s leadership will also matter beyond its borders. Its institutions, experience and rural development models can help shape solutions for rural communities across the Global South. #FinancingTheFirstMile @FinMinIndia | @nsitharamanoffc

I brought a clear message to our joint dialogue with @BMZ_Bund today, and to my conversation with Lisa Paus and Sascha H. Wagner of the German Parliament: when conflict, climate shocks or economic disruption affect farmers and rural businesses, the consequences travel through food supplies, prices and supply chains. That is why investing at the first mile is also an investment in economic resilience and stability. The case for acting early is strong. Around one third of @IFAD’s active portfolio is in fragile contexts, and 55% of our financing goes to strengthening climate resilience. But resilience is also about opportunity. Germany has long recognized the value of combining development cooperation with stronger markets and private-sector engagement. Public finance can achieve much more when it opens the door to businesses and investors. In Cambodia, IFAD, small-scale pepper producers and the German company Fuchs Gruppe have worked together to connect farmers to higher-value markets, and participating farmers have increased their incomes by more than 50%. Germany’s continued commitment to effective multilateral cooperation and to mobilizing additional investment will be important as we build #IFAD14. My thanks to Johann Saathoff, Ina von Frantzius, Isabelle Bunte, Michael Evers and everyone who joined us at the IFAD–BMZ joint event. #FinancingTheFirstMile

Germany is one of @IFAD most important strategic partners, and our cooperation goes well beyond financing. It was a pleasure to meet Reem Alabali-Radovan, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development at @BMZ_Bund, to discuss how we can deepen our partnership around shared priorities including food security, resilience, private investment and greater effectiveness across the multilateral system. Germany has helped shape IFAD’s evolution as a development finance institution. Its support contributed to the launch of our Private Sector Financing Programme and our ability to mobilize more public and private capital for rural economies. We agree that private sector engagement is key. Together with governments IFAD invests in infrastructure, institutions, value chains and financial systems to create an enabling environment for local agribusinesses, strengthen producer organizations and expand access to finance. In complementarity, IFAD also invests directly into private sector entities through loans, equity investments and risk-sharing instruments to mobilize capital into rural markets that are often overlooked by traditional investors. We also discussed the impact of the Middle East crisis, extreme weather events and input shocks on global hunger. We share the concern about the impact of global shocks on rural communities and food prices. With IFAD, we invest in first-mile resilience before disruptions to food, fuel, fertilizers and trade escalate into wider crises. The results are tangible. In Brazil, a US$30 million IFAD investment helped anchor a financing package that has grown to US$286 million, aimed at increasing the resilience of 1.8 million people. In Mozambique, climate and weather information is already reaching more than 50,000 rural households, helping communities prepare for shocks before they become crises. This is the kind of impact we want to scale through #IFAD14. Stronger rural economies, greater resilience, more jobs and more investment reaching places traditional finance often overlooks. Every dollar contributed to IFAD helps mobilize around six dollars of investment on the ground. Germany’s leadership on effectiveness, transparency and reform will be important to an ambitious IFAD14 outcome. I look forward to addressing the German Parliament tomorrow and taking part in the IFAD-BMZ joint event “Germany–IFAD Partnership: Investing in Rural Opportunities and Jobs”. #FinancingTheFirstMile

Across conversations with governments, development banks, the UN and the private sector, the challenge was clear. Shocks are becoming more frequent, while the public resources available to respond are increasingly constrained.   Development finance therefore must work harder to build resilience before the next crisis arrives. Scarce public resources need to reduce risk, strengthen markets and mobilize additional investment around country priorities. The measure of success is not simply how much we finance, but what that financing makes possible.   For @IFAD, this starts at the first mile. Investing in roads, water, finance, technology, markets and rural businesses makes economies more productive, creates jobs and helps communities withstand shocks. Rural people are not simply recipients of development assistance. They are producers, entrepreneurs and drivers of economic growth.   This week reinforced that no institution can deliver that transformation alone. We need governments, development finance institutions and the private sector working together, each bringing different strengths.   That is the opportunity I see in #IFAD14. To use our financing, partnerships and presence in rural areas to mobilize more investment behind stronger markets, more jobs and greater resilience.   I return to Rome even more convinced that investing at the first mile is an investment in stronger economies, more resilient food systems and greater global stability.   #FinancingTheFirstMile | #UNGA | #UNGA81

Building resilience today is crucial to helping countries withstand the shocks and crises of tomorrow. That is the message African countries are sending through their support for #IFAD14. 10 African countries have already pledged approximately US$9 million, with several significantly increasing their contributions, despite tight fiscal space, rising input costs, climate pressures and economic uncertainty at home. Their commitments demonstrate strong confidence in @IFAD and in what investment in rural economies can deliver. Greater food security, more jobs, stronger growth and greater stability. Alongside H.E. @TayeAtske, President of Ethiopia, H.E. @julius_maadabio, President of Sierra Leone, H.E. @SalahJama , Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, and @UN Deputy Secretary-General @AminaJMohammed, we are calling for this ambition to be matched internationally. Through IFAD’s 14th Replenishment, we can help countries invest today in the infrastructure, finance, technology and markets that make rural economies more productive, prosperous and resilient to future shocks. Small-scale farmers are at the centre of that transformation. Investing in them is not only an investment in Africa’s future. It is an investment in stronger food systems and greater global stability. Africa’s support for IFAD14 sends a clear signal of confidence in investing in the first mile. Now is the moment to build on that momentum. Read the full press release: ifad.org/en/w/ten-african-co… #FinancingTheFirstMile | #UNGA81

My day at #UNGA81, focused on how we turn pressure on food systems into investment in stronger, more resilient rural economies. I began with Norway’s Minister of International Development, @AsmundAukrust. Norway has been an important partner to @IFAD, and our discussion came at a time when higher food, energy and fertilizer costs, conflict and climate shocks continue to put rural communities under pressure. We agreed on the importance of investing before shocks become crises. Well-targeted public finance can reduce risk, strengthen markets and bring in the private capital needed to create jobs, raise incomes and protect development gains. That same question of resilience was central to the @wef Food Stewardship Board. Technology is opening new possibilities for rural communities, from AI-enabled agricultural advice to better climate and market information. But technology only delivers lasting results when it is connected to finance, infrastructure, skills and the people who will use it. At the @nopovertyhunger, with Spain, Brazil, @the_IDB, Germany, Ethiopia, and Haiti, and four years remaining to achieve the #SDGs the focus shifted from solutions to scale. Countries know many of the interventions that work. The challenge is aligning finance and partners behind national priorities and turning those priorities into investable programmes that can reach millions more people. I also joined discussions around IFAD14 and met @Microsoft President @BradSmi. The private sector, technology companies, governments and development finance institutions all have a role in making rural markets more connected, productive and investable. Across these conversations, the direction is clear. Public resources are constrained, but the need for investment is growing. We need to use those resources more strategically to reduce risk, mobilize additional capital and bring innovation closer to the first mile. That is the ambition we are carrying into #IFAD14. Stronger markets, more rural jobs and greater resilience, backed by partnerships capable of delivering investment at scale. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #UNGA

I just came off the stage at @GlblCtzn NOW, with @andrewzimmern and H.E. @SalahJama, Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, making the case for why investing in rural people matters for stronger economies, food security and a more resilient future. Approximately 3 billion people live in rural areas. They are farmers, entrepreneurs, employers and innovators. They are driving growth and producing much of the food we all depend on. As we discussed on stage, resilience starts with healthy soils and access to water, but also with access to finance, markets and infrastructure. Food systems are not only about production. Storage, distribution and marketing are where much of the value and many of the jobs are created. We also talked about the blue economy, which for @IFAD is a rural economy. As an example, in Zanzibar, seaweed farming supports around 15,000 farmers, 80% of them women. Until recently, almost all of it left the island raw. Together with the Government of Tanzania and Zanzibar, we are supporting women's groups to process seaweed and improve quality, so they earn more from what they grow. And as warmer waters damage seaweed near the shore, we are supporting farmers to farm in deeper water with better seed and techniques. That is what #IFAD14 is about. Investing more in rural economies, reaching communities that are too often overlooked and building stronger food systems for everyone. #FinancingTheFirstMile | #GlobalCitizenNOW | #UNGA81