Accra Dr Kwabena Adjei, Minister of Food and Agriculture, has said in Accra that poverty is still widespread in the country, particularly in the rural areas. He said this is in spite of government's unrelenting efforts to reduce it and the micro-economic achievements of the economic recovery programme. Dr Adjei was delivering the keynote address at the opening of a round-table conference on the evaluation of projects supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in the country. IFAD's portfolio in Ghana is among its largest in sub-saharan Africa. So far, the Fund has supported seven agricultural development projects in the country with a total loan of 82 million dollars.

Participants at the conference are expected to deliberate on the organisation and management, technology generation and dissemination and the social aspects of the projects. Dr Adjei said various indicators of poverty confirm its persistence and high concentration in certain parts of the country. He, however, noted that these are the areas IFAD is concentrating most of its efforts and urged the Fund to consider expanding its activities to the remaining areas. Dr Adjei said the government realises the importance of the agriculture sector in combating poverty, the prime cause of hunger and malnutrition. "The majority of the poor in Ghana depend on agriculture for eemployment and income. ''As long as this dependence continues, food production and agricultural productivity increases will continue to be among the principal means for reducing rural poverty and combating hunger'', he said.

The Minister congratulated IFAD for its activities which, he said, have had a ''positive impact on the poorest of the poor''. In spite of this success, the government will continue to work harder in order to improve further the joint achievements of IFAD and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Dr Adjei said with the experience of IFAD's performance ''we are ready to absorb additional IFAD support and effectively implement them for the benefit of our rural farmers and the poorest of the poor''. He advised the participants to work effectively to develop a framework for the successful implementation of IFAD's projects which are targeted at the rural poor. Gri