Factsheets

Over the past five years, the world has been hit by a series of
economic, financial and food crises that have slowed down,
and at times reversed, global efforts to reduce poverty and
hunger. Today, price volatility and weather shocks – such as the
recent devastating drought in the Horn of Africa – continue to
severely undermine such efforts.
In this context, promoting livelihood resilience and food and
nutrition security has become central to the policy agendas of
governments. Smallholder farmers need to be at the centre
of this agenda, and to play a leading role in the investment
efforts needed to achieve it.

IFAD has funded nine programmes and projects in Burundi for a total investment of US$141 million. IFAD’s experience in the country confirms that even under adverse circumstances programmes and projects conceived and designed on the basis of adequate consultations with incentives to rural communities can help improve household food security.

During more than a decade of open conflict in Burundi, IFAD continued to implement programme and project activities. In keeping with its mandate for rural and agricultural development, the organization supported participation in social development and the cohesion of rural communities that were directly or indirectly affected by massacres and combat. By continuing activities in the face of insecurity and within the constraints of an international embargo on Burundi, IFAD helped communities maintain a sense of normalcy.
 

IFAD is currently one of the two largest donors supporting Yemen’s rural agricultural sector. IFAD has worked in Yemen since the Fund’s creation, and has acquired a wealth of experience and knowledge of the economy and society, and developed a wide network of partners in the country. IFAD’s goal in Yemen is to achieve improved, diversified and sustainable livelihoods for poor rural women, men and young people, especially those who depend on rainfed agriculture and livestock production systems in the poorest areas. 

IFAD has three main strategic objectives in Yemen:
• empowering rural communities by strengthening partnerships with civil society organizations and using community-driven approaches so that poor rural people can manage local community development activities;
• promoting sustainable rural financial services and pro-poor rural enterprises by developing savings and credit associations for disadvantaged groups in remote rural areas and developing rural enterprises that provide jobs for the unemployed, especially young people and women;
• enhancing food security for poor households by restoring the productive agricultural base and improving productivity so that poor households can produce enough for household needs and a surplus that can be sold.

IFAD loans and grants have supported the government’s investments in poverty reduction programmes since 1979. Before 1998, when Hurricane Mitch devastated the country,IFAD was almost the only institution investing in rural development and poverty alleviation in Honduras.

IFAD also designed one of the first projects to be implemented after the disastrous hurricane: the National Fund for Sustainable Rural Development Project (FONADERS).

Climate variability and change are expected to compromise agricultural production and food security severely in many African countries. 

Fragile states are home to nearly 30 per cent of the world’s poor people. Though measures of fragility vary, such countries typically lack some of the basic tools of nationbuilding: good governance,
strong policies, skilled personnel, functional infrastructure and services, educated citizens, an active civil society and a competitive private sector. Civil and border conflict is an all-too frequent reality.
Poor people living in rural areas of fragile states are particularly vulnerable as they have very limited means to cope with the situation created by fragility.

The country’s challenge now is to create the conditions for economic growth – and the Government of Togo believes that the best way to achieve lasting growth is through increased production and productivity in the agriculture sector.

For these reasons, after more than a decade out of the country, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is working closely with the Republic of Togo to put agricultural and rural development on track.

There is a growing need to investigate different crop production systems that prevent soil degradation while increasing productivity. Conservation agriculture (CA) offers a promising solution. Conservation agriculture is a climate resilient technology and management system that has demonstrable potential to secure sustained productivity and livelihood improvements for millions of climate-dependent farmers working in semi-arid areas around the world. Success stories are recorded for some countries in Asia, and in Australia and Brazil. However, for sub-Saharan Africa adoption of the technology has lagged behind these other countries, and concerns have been raised as to the suitability of the technology within the smallholder farming context.