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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the European Union (EU) will provide EUR26.5 million worth of liquidity and debt relief to rural financial institutions to protect jobs and safeguard livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sri Lanka has been a global supplier of tea since the plant was first imported to the island about a hundred and fifty years ago. Since then, tea estates have often been passed down from generation to generation, weathering good times and bad.

The entire Ogiek belief system and livelihood relies on the forest and its resources, with honey being the most important product and a staple food for Ogiek families.

Small-scale farmers are responsible for up to 80 per cent of food production in Latin American and Caribbean countries, but they are at the frontline of the fight against climate change and social injustice.

In Ghana, the value chain model has helped build solid relationships, showing that even the poorest can be brought into commercial value chains if extra support is provided.

In the Andes of Peru, rural farmers are helping to restore the region’s degraded lands and improve water security.

IFAD will provide much needed funding to assist 23,900 vulnerable rural people (4,780 households) in the Republic of South Sudan. The IFAD grant will help reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their farming activities and safeguard their livelihoods.

A US$77.4 million project signed by IFAD and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania will bring much needed help to 260,000 rural households facing the impacts of climate change.

They say that leaders aren’t born, but made. That’s certainly true for Molly Ajok.

This call for proposals is to select a recipient or consortium of recipients to receive a three-year IFAD grant financing to implement the SUSTAIN project for a total IFAD grant of US$2 million.

"A passion for work is the fundamental ingredient of cooking."

Cooperation among the global south, i.e., South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC), is an integral part of international cooperation, and complements the traditional North-South Cooperation in development assistance.

NICADAPTA works closely with producer cooperatives to help them sustainably access coffee and cocoa markets. The results are making life not only sweeter, but also better.

Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of malnutrition in the world where over 50 per cent of children under five are stunted. Many children do not get enough nutritious food, and often came to school hungry.

The Government of Haiti and IFAD today signed a financing agreement for a project that will help Haitian farmers recover from the impact of Covid-19 and increase staple food production.

A coalition of multilateral development banks and development partners has pledged over US$17 billion in financing on Friday during a high-level forum, in a bold bid to address rising hunger on the African continent and to improve food security.

The Financing Facility for Remittances of IFAD is pleased to announce the second round of National Calls for Proposals (Kenya, Uganda) 2021: supporting remittances in times of crisis in Africa.

The African Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR System Organization, today pledged to work closely with African leaders to address rising hunger on the continent and shore up adequate financing to transform and modernize Africa’s food production.

Those who have the most to lose as a consequence of climate change are poor rural people, especially smallholders who rely on agriculture for survival.

Who could have predicted that two innovative mobile applications, each the winner of a Pacific Agrihack Lab grant in late 2018, would go on to make a difference in the lives of Pacific Islanders during the pandemic?

The rights of indigenous peoples to control their land according to their own needs and decisions is fundamental to protect their livelihoods and defend the biodiversity of native animal breeds and plant varieties.

The story of agriculture in Bangladesh is also a story of the resilience of Bangladeshi women. If women have the chance to participate in decision-making, the whole community benefits.

We begin this month’s episode with the latest from IFAD’s Associate Vice-President Donal Brown on how small-scale farmers are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.

As we approach the UN Food Systems Summit here are some suggested reads on transforming our food systems for people, and planet.

The African Development Bank and IFAD, in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR System Organization, will co-host a high-level dialogue: Feeding Africa: leadership to scale up successful innovations.

Urmatbek Omurbekov remembers a time when grazing his livestock was a purely offline affair. Every spring, herders like him would bring their animals to the foothills of the majestic Tian Shah Mountains to let them fatten up for the next winter.

People in rural areas, especially small-scale farmers, are among those most affected by climate change. The shifting climate has made weather patterns more unpredictable and weather-related events more extreme.

The UN Food System Summit’s Action Tracks offer a space to share and learn, with a view to fostering new actions and partnerships and amplifying existing initiatives. Each of the five Action Tracks is aligned with one of the Summit’s five objectives.

Joining forces to tackle rising hunger and the devastating impact of climate change in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, IFAD and IsDB today signed a US$500 million cooperation and cofinancing agreement.

Take some young entrepreneurs, add some modern equipment and training supported by IFAD and the Kenyan Government, spread the word using digital marketing, and you have all the ingredients for a successful banana processing factory.

Growing olive trees in Jordan, one of the driest countries in the world, isn’t easy. Every day, Fadieh and her family spend hours tilling the soil and tending to the trees, but the most demanding task is keeping the trees hydrated.

Farmers in Sierra Leone have shifted from slash-and-burn cultivation to rice cultivation in inland swamps. That is reducing the number of forest fires, a GIS study has shown.

The Kenya National Farmers’ Federation is implementing a mobile information platform to serve its members and other Kenyan farmers.

In this episode, we bring you the latest on how small-scale farmers are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.

More than 10,000 family farmers in Latin America will soon have access to digital solutions to overcome the obstacles they face in accessing markets and financing due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For some time now, it has been difficult to find well-paid work in Moldova. Most of the good jobs available are concentrated in the cities, resulting in significant migration out of the country’s rural areas.

To accelerate rural poverty alleviation, enhance rural productivity, and advance rural transformation through South-South and Triangular Cooperation, the China-IFAD SSTC Facility was established in 2018, becoming the first Facility in IFAD dedicated to SSTC.

Farmers that lack irrigation and rely on rainfed production are particularly vulnerable to drought. Fortunately, agricultural technologies, such as stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs), can help them adapt to climate change.

Until recently, every time Fatima Hassan Mohamed needed water to wash, cook, or drink, the mother of five had to set out on foot. The nearest water source was more than 20 kilometers away.

In many areas of rural Morocco, climate change has led to widespread erosion and desertification, causing steep declines in soil quality. This makes farmland less productive, endangering the livelihoods of the area’s small-scale farmers.

Enhancing irrigation efficiency is not a priority in policy agendas, being overshadowed by the global issue of access to drinking water and sanitation.

The United Nations and the Government of Italy announced today that the Pre-Summit gathering for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit will be in Rome, Italy from July 19 to July 21, 2021.

Many Guatemalans struggle with hunger and food insecurity, especially the nation’s children. In too many cases, lack of access to adequate food leaves children feeling weak and unable to concentrate in school, complicating both their physical and intellectual growth.

The IFAD- and GEF-supported Smallholder Market-led Project (SMLP-CSARL) recently received the Biodiversity Award at Eswatini’s 2020 Temvelo Climate Awards.

Through South-South Cooperation, IFAD is tapping into existing expertise, skills, capacities, and solutions to address the effects of COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges on rural populations.

Like other women on Santiago, the largest island of Cabo Verde, Maria Lizita Varela used to rely on sand extraction as a source of income. It was thankless, dangerous work.

Hunger and famine will persist and there will be unequal recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic unless more women in rural and urban areas hold leadership positions with increased decision-making power.

A growing number of reports are demonstrating what many development professionals already know about the impacts of COVID-19: women and girls are more vulnerable to the negative health and socio-economic effects of the crisis.

Meltem Gözel’s day begins at 07.00 each morning. Before the sun has risen, she’s already at work in her greenhouses, tending to her mushrooms.

An old Tongan proverb says that a successful village lives together, works together, and helps one another. This is especially true for handicrafts, an integral part of traditional Tongan culture.

El objetivo del concurso es identificar y premiar iniciativas innovadoras impulsadas por jóvenes que contribuyan a superar los desafíos de la pandemia de COVID-19 en las áreas rurales de la región.

In 2021, the impact of the epidemic and the global economic recession will have an impact on world food security. After the epidemic, what problems will global food security face and how to deal with it?

The People Behind Your Plate is a coffee table book of powerful images and stories of rural people worldwide created IFAD and released for global use today.

Starting over is never easy, whether you’re an individual person or an entire nation. Nevertheless, the economy of Uzbekistan has made incredible progress in recent years.

Many elements involved in IFAD-funded projects. As long as an element’s precise geographic coordinates are known, satellite imagery can be used to monitor any changes that have taken place.

In this episode, we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), a global day of observance that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

IFAD will be able to invest US$3.8 billion in the world’s rural poor thanks to an unprecedented record-high financing target set today by governments from 177 countries at IFAD’s annual Governing Council.  

Hunger is both a cause and result of conflict. In fact, conflict is the main driver of hunger in most of the world’s food crises.

An unprecedented commitment to ensure that the voices and opinions of millions of the world’s most remote rural people are at the heart of the United Nations Food Systems Summit was announced today by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Agnes Kalibata and the President of IFAD, Gilbert F. Houngbo.

The fate of the world’s poorest and wealthiest nations are interconnected, and eradicating poverty and hunger will be impossible without urgent and focused international cooperation efforts directed at long-term development, said world leaders speaking at the opening of the IFAD annual Governing Council meeting today.

In a strong show of support and recognition for the leader who has successfully showcased the importance of long-term rural development, Member States have reappointed Gilbert F. Houngbo as President of IFAD for a second term at its annual Governing Council meeting today.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and FAO will sign a project agreement tomorrow to directly support 10,000 of the most vulnerable people affected by COVID-19 in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey Province to restore their livelihoods and improve their resilience to the crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on smallholder farmers in low-income countries who have struggled to access to markets, labourers, technology, and key resources amid physical distancing mandates, shifting government funding priorities, and plunging income levels.

About one million rural people in the Sahel region will benefit from a new joint programme, the first of its kind, IFAD announced today. The US$180.4 million Regional Joint Programme will revitalize economic activities and food systems in the Group of Five Sahel countries and in the Republic of Senegal.

Last March, when Nepal went into lockdown to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarbaraj Bhandari realized he was in a bit of a fix. A goat farmer, he was in the process of upgrading and managing his goat-shed facilities with the help of extension services and technical support provided to farmers participating in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development-led and IFAD-supported Agriculture Sector Development Programme (ASDP).

Zhenba County, nestled in the mountains of China’s Shaanxi province, has long been known for its traditional bacon, expertly smoked and cured to produce an unmatched flavor.

Heads of state, ministers and rural development experts will come together at the 44th annual Governing Council meeting of IFAD to discuss the critical importance of investing in the rural areas of the world’s poorest countries to build global stability and peace, and how to close the rural development funding gap.

As I scroll through the pages of the new photo book The People Behind Your Plate just published by IFAD, I remember my own visits with rural people in remote villages as I travelled around Lesotho to collect recipes for my cooking books.

The Japanese government and the IFAD signed an historic agreement today to open the first IFAD Liaison Office in Japan.

Indigenous Peoples have suffered disproportionately from the economic impacts of COVID-19, yet they hold essential knowledge for rebuilding a more sustainable and resilient post-pandemic world, free of poverty and hunger, said Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD, at the opening of the Fifth global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum today.

Indigenous food systems represent a treasure trove of knowledge that contributes to well-being and health, benefiting communities, preserving a rich biodiversity, and providing nutritious food.

This year, representatives from Indigenous Peoples’ groups from around 57 countries will meet with development organisations and governments to discuss ways to address challenges and opportunities.

The Federal Government of Nigeria and IFAD are working together to lessen the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on small-scale farmers’ activities and domestic food supply in northeastern states of Nigeria.

As the world grapples with the current pandemic, other threats, not least our climate emergency, have not gone away. The science is clear that without urgent global action, the climate and broader environmental crisis could be worse.

In this month’s episode, we’re focusing on youth and indigenous peoples as agents of change in the developing world.