Rural Poor Stimulus Facility
The RPSF improves rural resilience during crises by providing access to inputs, information, markets and liquidity.
Short-term crises can feed off long-term problems, gaps, underinvestment and vulnerabilities.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people living in extreme poverty was high but declining. COVID-19 changed that, leading to the first rise in global poverty in a generation.
Restrictions on movement to reduce the spread of the virus also reduced economic activity and access to resources. This had particularly severe impacts on poor rural communities and small-scale food producers. Many could not access seeds and other inputs to produce food. Others were unable to sell their produce at markets. Still more lacked the financial safety net of savings or access to finance to weather the pandemic.
Investments in agriculture can help people become more self-reliant, increase rural prosperity and ensure more sustainable food systems and food security – even when shocks like COVID-19 occur.
Digital innovations, like connecting farmers to online marketplaces and mobile banking, can be a lifeline in communities experiencing movement restrictions. Moreover, remote communities benefit from being connected to wider economies even after the crisis has passed.
Economic growth in agriculture is two to three times more effective at reducing poverty and food insecurity than growth in other sectors. Investments in small-scale agriculture can help revive food production and create jobs following a crisis. They enable rural communities to recover from the economic challenges faced during the pandemic.
Since they often live and work in close proximity to animals, rural people are crucial to preventing animal-origin diseases from infecting humans.
In April 2020, IFAD launched the Rural Poor Stimulus Facility to improve the resilience of rural livelihoods.
RPSF provided small-scale farmers with inputs and basic assets to keep growing crops and managing livestock and fisheries. It facilitated access to markets, financial services and digital services that deliver information on production, weather, finance and markets.
The Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus supported households to build food security and self-sufficiency. In doing so, they reduced their dependence on imported foods that became harder to access during the pandemic.
To help prevent the next pandemic, IFAD designs its livestock investments using the OneHealth approach. This sees the health of people, animals and ecosystems as interconnected. It supports access to veterinary services, promotes sustainable natural resource management and addresses the misuse of antibiotics to limit the spread of disease from animals to people.