The EU and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed a partnership to jointly address challenges in sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security, in order to reduce poverty in rural communities in developing countries. An example of this partnership is the Support to Farmers Organisations in Africa Programme, co-financed by the EU and the IFAD.

European Union Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs and the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo F. Nwanze, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further strengthen the cooperation between the EU and IFAD on sustainable agriculture. The European Commission includes sustainable agriculture in its plans to seek an economy more innovative and more sustainable for Europe.

The partnership will have as priorities developing technologies for sustainable agricultural intensification (i.e. increasing production by using resources more efficiently) and promoting innovative rural financing mechanisms (like private-public funding facilities) that primarily benefit women and men smallholder farmers. Other focus areas are providing assistance for small farmers to adapt to climate change and securing equitable access to land.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. As example of the new partnership will be the Support to Farmers Organisations in Africa Programme, co-financed by the EU and the IFAD. This programme contributed to strengthen Farmer Organisations and to enable them to influence policies so that smallholders' needs are better taken into account. A follow-up programme (Farmers Africa) is being designed with an EU financing of €26.9 millions, in order to build on the first results.