The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will appoint its next President on July 7.

The new leadership will be chosen at a dire time when millions more rural people are being pushed into hunger and poverty due to the compounding effects of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and record-level commodity prices triggered by the conflict in Ukraine.

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The President will lead IFAD, a specialized United Nations agency and international finance institution with 177 Member States, for the next four years, said the UN agency on Monday.

IFAD plays a crucial role in the fight against hunger and poverty and the transformation of food systems through its investments in rural populations and small-scale farmers.

Those small-scale farmers produce one-third of the world’s food and are essential to global food security.

Yet, their capacity to produce food for their communities and countries is threatened by climate change and a lack of access to seeds, fertilizers, technology, knowledge and markets.

Read: IFAD issues 1st bond connecting capital markets to rural poor around world

The current price hikes for food, energy and fertilizer are now threatening their ability to feed their families. This crisis comes at a time when vulnerable rural populations are reeling from the value chain disruptions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 2019 and 2021, IFAD helped 77 million people improve their income, 67 million people improved their access to markets, and 62 million people increased their production.