Brejo Dois Irmãos is a tiny and isolated community of 200 families in north-east Brazil. It hides a precious treasure: the burití, or “tree of life” in the indigenous Tupi-Guarani language.

IFAD launched the Innovatech project today, which aims to develop agricultural (AgriTech) and financial (FinTech) digital solutions to facilitate small famers’ access to markets and to financial and non-financial services in Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico.

This month, in anticipation of International Women’s Day 2022, our focus is on gender equality.

Jeong Kwan is a Zen Buddhist nun. She’s also a chef famous for both her sustainable vegan recipes and her pure and sincere approach towards cooking. Our conversation touched upon everything from traditional Korean temple food to what we need to do to rebalance our food systems.

World leaders today called for urgent and innovative investments to help rural communities in the world’s poorest countries adapt to climate change. Speaking at the opening of the annual Governing Council meeting attended by 177 Member States of IFAD, leaders specifically highlighted the vulnerability of small-scale farmers to severe weather events, like the storms that devastated Madagascar in recent weeks killing at least 121 people and destroying more than 176,000 hectares of land.

Job opportunities in the agricultural sector can be very limited for people with disabilities. In rural China, therefore, initiatives dedicated to including people with disabilities in their local economies – including IFAD-supported projects – have been central to national efforts to eliminate extreme poverty.

Many persons with disabilities face barriers to accessing education, training and employment – and for women with disabilities, those barriers are even higher. Fortunately, there are a growing number of programmes designed to help rural-dwellers with disabilities find decent jobs and fully participate in their local societies.

Heads of state, ministers and rural development experts will come together at the 45th annual Governing Council meeting of IFAD to look towards a post-COVID world, and discuss how to harness innovations and new financing mechanisms to build more inclusive and resilient rural economies.

A US$ 1.07 million grant agreement between IFAD and the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia will finance the Resilience Livelihood Action to COVID-19 project (RLAC-19)—a move to strengthen the ability of poor rural people to cope with the effects of the COVID pandemic and threats to their livelihoods.

Brejo is not easy to reach: the only way in or out is a 12-kilometre dirt road running through a swamp, which most vehicles can’t manage. And with no way to sell their most important crop – burití (Mauritia flexuosa), a native palm tree – the 200 families living there frequently felt forgotten by the outside world.

For our people and planet to flourish, we need agrobiodiversity: agricultural systems that enhance our wealth of ecosystems and living beings instead of diminishing it. Our work has long recognized the importance of agrobiodiversity for sustainable food systems, and now we’re taking this commitment even further.

To make sure we’re investing in what works and achieving maximum impact, we evaluated 17 of our project Impact Assessments to look for broader trends. The results have implications for everyone who works in rural development – from those on the ground to the donors who make this work possible.

In a significant move to strengthen its commitment to ethical investments, the Executive Board of IFAD agreed on a policy to further shift the Fund’s treasury investments to green bonds and other Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments.

Herding livestock is central to Kyrgyzstan’s economy, society and culture, but the nation has long lacked enough veterinarians to care for these animals. Now, an IFAD-supported project is helping to train veterinarians and make sure they reach even the country’s most remote areas.

This month’s episode is all about what lies ahead for the world of agriculture in 2022.

IFAD, together with the China Centre for Agricultural Policy of Peking University, launched IFAD’s Rural Development Report 2021, in a virtual event today.

In north-eastern Montenegro, an IFAD-funded project is helping women start their own businesses and gain greater representation in their communities. Recently, many of these women gathered to share their successes and teach and learn from each other.

IFAD, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in Jordan, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands signed a EUR 4.13 million financial agreement this week to strengthen the sustainability and climate resilience of ongoing interventions under the Rural Economic Growth and Employment Programme (REGEP) in Jordan.

For another year, millions of small-scale farmers have been bearing the brunt of climate change and COVID-19. We were there to support them every step of the way.

2021 brought immense challenges to all corners of the world. Nevertheless, IFAD has been busy doing what we always do: supporting projects that improve the lives of rural small-scale farmers.