{"id":10822,"date":"2026-10-10T20:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/?p=10822"},"modified":"2026-10-10T20:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:51:18","slug":"indias-leadership-in-rural-transformation-in-focus-during-ifad-presidents-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/?p=10822","title":{"rendered":"India’s leadership in rural transformation in focus during IFAD President’s visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Delhi, 10 October 2026. \u00a0<\/strong>India’s progress in transforming rural livelihoods holds lessons well beyond its borders, said Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development<\/a> (IFAD), during a visit to India this week.<\/p>\n

In discussions with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Lario underscored the growing international relevance of India\u2019s rural development model and the opportunity to share its lessons more widely through the India-IFAD partnership. They also discussed IFAD’s Fourteenth Replenishment (IFAD14), which will accelerate rural transformation by creating jobs, connecting small-scale producers to markets and economic opportunities, and building resilience to shocks at the first mile of food systems.<\/p>\n

“India has gone from food deficit to feeding 1.4 billion people and exporting to the world. Our shared ambition now is to make rural India prosperous, not just food secure,” said Lario. “That means more investment reaching rural enterprises, more finance for farmers’ organizations, and more support for small-scale producers facing climate and price shocks. The India-IFAD partnership carries lessons from India’s rural development models to producers across other aspirational districts in India and beyond through South-South and Triangular Cooperation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

This was Lario’s first visit to India since the two partners launched an eight-year country strategy in May 2026 centred on two objectives: accelerating rural prosperity in India and sharing India’s rural development experience with other developing countries through South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC).<\/p>\n

In New Delhi, Lario and Sitharaman also discussed how IFAD and India can expand their work together, including by connecting smallholder farmers to global markets. Later in the visit, Lario saw that ambition in action while visiting the IFAD-supported Meghalaya Livelihoods and Access to Markets Project (LAMP), where he launched a shipment of organic spices from India to Singapore, a sign of the export opportunities opening up for Meghalaya\u2019s farmers through private-sector partners.<\/p>\n

These spices were processed at the Bhoirymbong spice processing facility, the first and largest organic spice processing unit in the Northeast, run by the Eastern Ri-Bhoi Organic Farmer Producer Company. The facility can process 10,000 metric tonnes of spices a year, works with 5,500 farmers and was inaugurated by Sitharaman in June. An IFAD investment of INR 2 crore (over US$200,000) helped bring in a further INR 30 crore (US$3.12 million) under a community\u2013private partnership model.<\/p>\n

In Meghalaya, Lario also met with farmer communities in Umwang and Jirang to see the first-mile impact of the US$205.76 million IFAD-supported project. IFAD was the first international financial institution to invest in northeast India, and the partnership has grown in both scale and ambition since 1997.<\/p>\n

Across India, IFAD has co-financed 37 programmes and projects since 1979, investing US$1.5 billion in a total programme cost of US$4.9 billion and reaching more than 6 million rural households. India is both a founding Member State and a significant contributor to IFAD’s replenishments. It was also among the first countries to provide a concessional partner loan.<\/p>\n

Current operations span five states, with a focus on inclusive rural finance, digital agriculture services, cooperative governance and climate-resilient value chains. IFAD’s active projects in India show strong national ownership: every US$1 IFAD invests is matched by about US$3 in total investment from the Government and other partners.<\/p>\n

Following his visit to India, Lario will be representing IFAD at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, where he will advocate for greater investment at the first mile of food systems, where economic growth begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Delhi, 10 October 2026. \u00a0India’s progress in transforming rural livelihoods holds lessons well beyond its borders, said Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), during a visit to India this week. In discussions with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Lario underscored the growing international relevance of India\u2019s rural development model and the opportunity to share its lessons more widely through the India-IFAD partnership. They also discussed IFAD’s Fourteenth Replenishment (IFAD14), which will accelerate rural transformation by creating jobs, connecting small-scale producers to markets and economic opportunities, and building resilience to shocks at the first mile of food systems. “India has gone from food deficit to feeding 1.4 billion people and exporting to the world. Our shared ambition now is to make rural India prosperous, not just food secure,” said Lario. “That means more investment reaching rural enterprises, more finance for farmers’ organizations, and more support for small-scale producers facing climate and price shocks. The India-IFAD partnership carries lessons from India’s rural development models to producers across other aspirational districts in India and beyond through South-South and Triangular Cooperation,\u201d he added. This was Lario’s first visit to India since the two partners launched an eight-year country strategy in May 2026 centred on two objectives: accelerating rural prosperity in India and sharing India’s rural development experience with other developing countries through South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC). In New Delhi, Lario and Sitharaman also discussed how IFAD and India can expand their work together, including by connecting smallholder farmers to global markets. Later in the visit, Lario saw that ambition in action while visiting the IFAD-supported Meghalaya Livelihoods and Access to Markets Project (LAMP), where he launched a shipment of organic spices from India to Singapore, a sign of the export opportunities opening up for Meghalaya\u2019s farmers through private-sector partners. These spices were processed at the Bhoirymbong spice processing facility, the first and largest organic spice processing unit in the Northeast, run by the Eastern Ri-Bhoi Organic Farmer Producer Company. The facility can process 10,000 metric tonnes of spices a year, works with 5,500 farmers and was inaugurated by Sitharaman in June. An IFAD investment of INR 2 crore (over US$200,000) helped bring in a further INR 30 crore (US$3.12 million) under a community\u2013private partnership model. In Meghalaya, Lario also met with farmer communities in Umwang and Jirang to see the first-mile impact of the US$205.76 million IFAD-supported project. IFAD was the first international financial institution to invest in northeast India, and the partnership has grown in both scale and ambition since 1997. Across India, IFAD has co-financed 37 programmes and projects since 1979, investing US$1.5 billion in a total programme cost of US$4.9 billion and reaching more than 6 million rural households. India is both a founding Member State and a significant contributor to IFAD’s replenishments. It was also among the first countries to provide a concessional partner loan. Current operations span five states, with a focus on inclusive rural finance, digital agriculture services, cooperative governance and climate-resilient value chains. IFAD’s active projects in India show strong national ownership: every US$1 IFAD invests is matched by about US$3 in total investment from the Government and other partners. Following his visit to India, Lario will be representing IFAD at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, where he will advocate for greater investment at the first mile of food systems, where economic growth begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10824,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822\/revisions\/10824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samachar18news.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}