A senior United Nations official has called for greater investments in agriculture and rural development to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in Africa, both of which are critical to achieving the global target of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Rapid agricultural and rural development holds the key to eliminating poverty in Africa,” Kanayo Nwanze, Vice-President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told the meeting of African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa delegates gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.