On February 11th, Michele Pennella, Program Officer at International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a financial agency of the United Nations, held a discussion with the Food Studies M.A students on rural development practices specific to Latin America. Michele Pennella shared his experience in working with family farmers, who produce 80% of the food in Latin America and derive their income mainly from agriculture. He shared how family farmers are vulnerable to economic, natural, and familial shocks and often never return to their original standard of living after undergoing them.
One of the main goals of IFAD is ease these shocks and provide support for resiliency through measures that address their productive capacity through adaptation practices, crop diversification, management of natural resources and participation in producers’ organizations. Resiliency measures are also proposed and implemented in relation to their financial status through access to insurance and access to credit. Finally, government response, infrastructure and early warning and prevention systems are all essential elements of ensuring resiliency. Michele Pennella also stressed the centrality of rural development in many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. Two goals the students and Pennella debated were how to include rural women and bettering the livelihoods of rural youth. Michele concluded the discussion by asking the students which sustainable development goals they would value the most in rural development and why. He encouraged the students to consider rural development as a career path for its rewarding and action-oriented work.
- Emily Solomon, Graduate Student Assistant
