Source: The FINANCIAL                         Date: 10 November, 2010

The World Bank Group has welcomed a decision to allocate Mongolia, Ethiopia, and Niger a total of USD97 million in grants from a multi-donor trust fund set up to help the world’s poor developing countries to help themselves boost agricultural productivity and tackle hunger on a sustained basis.

The grants were awarded by an independent panel set up under the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). The World Bank is trustee of the fund, created at the request of a previous G20 leaders’ summit.

World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, “We still face significant challenges in ensuring the world’s poorest people are fed.  To achieve food security in the long run, we must help poor countries to invest more and better in their futures. Since mid-June, global grain prices have been rising.  The risks of food price spikes in poor countries cannot be underestimated. We look forward to working with donors to fulfill promises to boost country-led agriculture in developing countries.”

The World Bank will help Mongolia to implement a USD12.5-million project to assist the country’s livestock sector. It seeks to improve the quality of livestock and support producer groups and cooperatives and boost access to regional and domestic markets for livestock commodities.

To date,  a total of USD923 million has been pledged to GAFSP by the United States, Canada, Spain, South Korea, Australia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ireland, with funds then going to countries demonstrating, strategic, innovative and credible  plans already in place to boost agricultural productivity and improve food security.